


They Call It A Gift

by The_Concierge_Of_Crime



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, M/M, Possible Inaccuracies In Legal Scenes, Possible Trigger- Child Death (Not Overly Explicit), Possible Trigger- Child Kidnapping, Psychics, Violence, bad language, childhood traumas, established relationships - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-03-28 20:55:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 205,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3869482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Concierge_Of_Crime/pseuds/The_Concierge_Of_Crime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>((Another re-posted work from LJ by myself and Dani. As ever all credit to Vinny Mac and respective owners etc. We make no profit, this is just a fun AU, and we only own the plot and characterisations))</p><p>Ted DiBiase had always known he was different, and there wasn't anything he could do about it; he just had to get on with what his 'gift' directed him to do. However, when he finds himself suddenly aiding in a high-stakes child-kidnapping case he'll encounter people who may help him realise that perhaps being different isn't such a bad thing. And, just perhaps, that his gift isn't a curse after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Can't You Narrow It Down?

Ted DiBiase awoke at three-seventeen in the morning and realised he had to get to Missouri as soon as possible. 

He groaned, throwing his hand over his eyes and trying to ignore the familiar compulsion – it wasn't even light for heavens sake! But the knowledge that he had to go remained, unignorable in it's strength. There was no use trying to carry on as if there was nothing wrong, he had tried that in the past and it simply wasn't possible. 

Sighing, Ted reached for his phone and went online, checking out the bus timetables. It was a fair distance but he didn't want to deplete his funds with a plane and in any case, half the time it was the only rest he got before he got to where he was going and all hell broke loose. His father would have wired him the cash but he didn't like to rely on his dad's money either; the man had worked hard for it and none of Ted's brothers borrowed from their parents so that they could drift across the country, seemingly aimlessly. Ted's father claimed that he didn't mind, that it was a small price to pay for Ted's gift... but Ted knew that the 'gift' had always made his father nervous. 

“Missouri,” he said out loud. “Can we narrow it down to a town perhaps? It's a big damn state.”

Nothing, no flash to tell him whereabouts he was supposed to end up. Frustrated, he looked back to the phone and found that there was a service that would get him to St Louis in a couple of days. It wasn't going to be comfortable but it would do and even better, it left in only a few hours. 

Getting out of bed, he started packing up the things he'd stored in the hotel room. It didn't take long; Ted travelled light because he was always on the road, or so it seemed. He'd once spent ten months in the same place and been tentatively hoping that perhaps he would be able to get a place of his own, or a job he wouldn't have to leave without giving notice. But hoping had been foolish. He had woken up just as he had today, knowing that he had to be in Bangor, Maine just as soon as he could and he had only stayed there for nineteen weeks before he was moving on again, sardonically whistling the tune that had always ended 'The Incredible Hulk' TV series. It got less amusing every time he had to leave some town he'd barely gotten to know.

Briefly he considered texting his parents to let them know he was changing address again, but it was a horrible hour and if he did so while on the bus, he wouldn't have to explain to his father why he didn't really want to take the plane. Hell, he probably had enough frequent flyer miles to cover the cost of the trip already, but he really wanted to have that time alone, before he had to face up to whatever had drawn him to Missouri. 

It was far too early to be waiting at the bus station but once the need to move on hit him he was unable to rest until he was moving, heading toward his destination. He didn't understand it but then again, he understood very little about his gift, only that it was a pain in the ass and he would much rather have been gifted with musical or sporting talent. On his darker days, he wouldn't have minded having no gifts at all, being able to live a boring, nondescript life instead of always being on the move, or on the run as it felt like sometimes. The cops all knew his name by the time he left a place and he was sure they were glad to see the back of him. 

The man on the front desk was dozing and Ted had paid in advance so he just left the key in front of him and headed off, his backpack over one shoulder but not really weighing him down. He certainly wouldn't miss the motel he'd called home for a while, it was the typical rat-trap he tended to live in and the sign broadcast 'hourly rates' which could mean only one thing, not that he had ever witnessed anything that might suggest it was a good place for a swift, illicit roll in the hay. After a while, the motels blurred together with nothing to distinguish them and he certainly wasn't about to remember this one as anything special. It was just starting to get light as he began his walk to the bus station, it was some distance but he had the time and he wanted to get some exercise before he was cramped up on the bus for days. He was a tall man and it was never going to be especially comfortable for him to be confined, but it was the way he wanted it. 

On the way he went into a convenience store that was open 24 hours, picking out several magazines that might keep him entertained until their first stop, just in case there was nowhere selling books at the station. He threw a couple of bottles of water along with them and on impulse bought a big bar of chocolate. Not good for him and he had to watch the cash, but it was going to be a long trip with probably some distress at the end, so he might as well comfort eat. The items went into his backpack and he continued on his way, finding the bus station without a problem. As it turned out there was a place selling books there but it was closed, as was a small and rather unpleasant looking cafe where he might be able to get something to eat before the bus arrived. It wouldn't open until six though and so he sat on one of the plastic chairs to wait, pulling out his phone a little warily. It might be getting light but there was still the chance that there were undesirables around and that there were places to sit meant there was a small number of the homeless already situated there, although they'd probably be moved along once the staff and drivers started to show up. 

Ted's phone was his lifeline and his parents sent him the latest model every year; he thought perhaps it was a way they could keep up with their strange middle child whom they'd never stopped loving in spite of the grief he had unintentionally brought upon them. It meant that he was able to check out the Missouri newspapers online while he waited, wanting to see if there was some reason he was being drawn there. But nothing stood out for him. There were enough stories that one of them might be linked to his need to be there, but none of them shouted to him that here was the reason he had to go. And it was possible that the reason for his presence wasn't even being reported upon, it wasn't just high-profile events that had his inner compass pointing to one place or another. 

A transient ambled over to him and took the seat beside him. Ted glanced over to him and sighed. The man had a full growth of gingerish beard and wore a hat that might have been pulled from a dumpster. The coat over the top of his clothes might never have been washed but it seemed waterproof and warm enough, while the gloves the man wore were fingerless, revealing dirty hands. 

He looked like he should smell unwashed and filthy, but there was no odour at all. 

“Never thought I'd meet one of your kind,” the man said conversationally. 

Ted shrugged. “I've never met another one either. If there were a few more of us, maybe I wouldn't be here right now.”

“Could've stayed home, right?” The man grinned, showing yellowing teeth. “I suppose you know I've got to ask you something.”

Ted frowned. His inner voice was louder now, telling him to move on to Missouri and that this man had no bearing on his duty there. But he wasn't about to ignore him if he could help; as he had said, there weren't many people with his abilities about at all and it could be a long, long time before another one sat in this bus station. 

“If I can help you, I will. But I've got to be out of here as soon as I can.”

“Other people to think about, I know.”

“What was it that took you?”

The man mirrored Ted's earlier shrug. “Stabbed over twenty dollars. We found someone's wallet and there was money in, we bought us a drink and we both wanted what was left. He was drunk, I don't blame him. And I had some problems, circulation of the liver or something. Wouldn't have lasted more than a few months anyway.”

“They caught him?”

“Oh yeah. He'll be sleeping in a bed, might even get off the drink. Not that prison's a holiday but it might give him a chance.”

“Then I don't understand. Why do you need me?”

“They din't know my name,” the man said with an embarrassed smile. “Folks just called me Ginger, because of the beard y'know? Like I'm some beauty queen dancing with Fred Astaire. Hell, probably I couldn't have told you my name, before I ended up getting killed. Brain was pickled right along with my liver. But now? I can think. And I ain't craving the poison no more.”

Ted nodded politely, although he wished the man would just get on with it. Certainly he was one of the most lucid that Ted had ever encountered, mostly they were freaking out about revenge and killers on the loose. The ones who had no motive for revenge or justice always seemed to be the ones who could hold the most enlightening conversations, although they had no idea about anything they hadn't known while they were alive. 

“I had a brother. Twins, we were. Haven't seen him since I lost my job and my home, we fell out over me going to hell in a handbasket....” The man looked wistful. “Never stopped missing him but my mistress was the bottle and I loved her more. He should be told that I'm dead here. I don't think that he'll put up a stone for me but he should know what happened. I don't want to just disappear. Well, I did, but I'd like him to stop wondering.”

“Where's he live?”

“He was somewhere in Detroit, probably moved on since then but I don't think he'll have left the town. Used to be on Elm Road. His name's Stephen and I'm Simon. Simon Thompson.”

Ted nodded – here at least was something he could do. His time in this town had left him with a few contacts with the cops and now he returned his attention to his phone, pulling up the number of the most sympathetic and starting a message. “When was it you were killed?”

“Oh, I've no idea.”

“Right. But it was here, in the station?”

“Yeah.”

Ted typed out his message in a hurry: Leaving town this morning. There was a bum killed in the bus station here, argument over money. Killer's inside. Bums name was Simon Thompson and he has a brother Stephen somewhere in Detroit, was on Elm Road. Please tell him what happened. Maybe I'll see u around.

He sent the message and put the phone away. “He'll dig into the story and hopefully find your brother.”

“Thanks.” The man hesitated. “What happens now?”

“Now? I don't really know. Mostly people just – stop being around. That's what I've found. I don't see them go, no flash of light or heavenly chorus. One moment they're there and the next they're not.”

“They pop out of existence?”

“No. But they only seem to be there as long as I'm looking right at them. I look away and they're not there any more.” Ted managed a half-smile. “And not until something happens. Probably the guy I texted hasn't even woken up yet, let alone gone looking for your brother. You might be stuck in this bus station a little longer.”

“That's fine. I always liked people watching.” Simon smiled back at him. “You, for example. You've got this look in your eyes. You look haunted.”

Ted chuckled. “Well, I am.”

“Fair point.” Simon stood up. “I've taken up enough of your time but – thank you. I know someone knowing about me isn't exactly important on the grand scale of things, but it means a lot to me.”

“I'm glad I was able to help.”

“Can I ask? Do you see dead people everywhere?”

Ted shook his head. “Hardly at all. I don't know why, I only see people who were killed by others.”

“Murder victims? I suppose I was doubly lucky then.” Simon glanced over to the cafe. “That place is opening soon. Woman who runs it's like a dragon, but she makes good bacon. Just don't ask for eggs, she screws them up every time. And as for mushrooms, forget it. But you're safe with bacon.”

“Thanks,” replied Ted, who had just been wondering about getting some food or at least getting away from where he was now. It wasn't so much Simon that he wanted to escape from, it was the looks of the bums and the people who had started wandering in, all glancing at him to see if he was dangerous before studiously ignoring him. After all, he was clearly crazy, holding a conversation with an empty chair. 

Ted took Simon's advice about the bacon before buying a ticket when the office opened and getting onto his bus as soon as they started letting people on. There were only five people who got on at that stop, two others already on, but Ted was sure that there would be others getting on when the bus made its twelve stops along the way. He didn't see Simon again, but it was something nice that he had been able to do, something worthwhile. 

If only he could be sure that his destination could promise the same. But he had the doleful feeling that only trouble and misery awaited him at the other end. 

~:~

Cody Rhodes was dead tired but there wasn't much chance of him getting to sleep any time soon. He'd been following the trail all damned night and as soon as he got home there had been another phonecall to deal with. Just what he didn't need but it was just one of the trials of his life. 

He hadn't finished talking to the cops until four in the morning, but thankfully they seemed to realise that he was on the level, even if they were sceptical about how he'd known where to find their missing person. Telling them that he'd been asked to examine a ring found in a pawn shop, that he had been able to see where the owner had been before it had ended up in there, that sounded crazy even to him. But it always had sounded strange to him, even knowing he could do it. Not with everything – if he could get the past of everyone that handed him change for his morning coffee he'd probably have gone legitimately insane a long time before – but with some items he was able to get flashes of a past, a person. And this time, he had gotten lucky. The father had found the ring, which belonged to his missing daughter, in a pawn shop when he had circulated its description around. He had told the police of this but since she was considered a runaway, they didn't take more than a desultory interest in the find. The father had spoken to Cody out of sheer frustration rather than genuine belief in Cody's gift and this time, Cody had managed to get a recent history from the item. The girl had run away, fallen into a bad crowd and was hopelessly addicted to drugs. She had sold the ring for a fix when she hadn't raised enough by selling her body. The sad, sorry saga had depressed Cody but there was some good news; he had seen a house that he had been able to describe and gone with the father to look for it. Landmarks had led them to the area, he had known the house as soon as he had seen it and miraculously, the father had managed to compose himself long enough to call the cops rather than bust in himself. His daughter had been there,dirty and thin but not dead, while everyone else had been arrested for possession. 

Of course, it had led to questions about how he had known what was going on and how he knew the girl was there. He hadn't lied but no one had really believed him, however there was no reason to arrest him no matter what they suspected. He could have easily passed a drug test, he hadn't been drinking and seemed to have no connection to anyone in the house, therefore there was no grounds for him remaining. And no one was dead this time, Cody reminded himself. Had he found a corpse, there would have been more questions. 

It was hard, but it was just a part of being able to help people and he wouldn't have swapped that for all the nights of good sleep and lack of intrusive questions in the world. Of course, it helped that he was able to travel and work at the same time – he wrote young adult novels and while he was never going to be as successful as JK Rowling, he didn't do badly at all. In a genre overpopulated with romance and ridiculousness, he credited his readers with half a brain; none of his vampires sparkled and his characters weren't passive, miserable or insipid. At least, no one had ever accused him of it yet. 

Not that he was going to be able to work on his latest novel at any point soon. Once he escaped the police station and got home just as the rest of the world was looking to travel to work, he had been in the process of making himself a drink when the phone rang. He almost didn't answer it, almost let the answer machine get it. But the number on his call ID was out of state, a landline rather than a mobile and that suggested it was neither a salesman nor anyone he knew. His curiosity piqued, he picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi. Am I speaking with Cody Rhodes?”

“Yeah,” replied Cody cautiously. He was trying to place the accent, which certainly wasn't Southern as he was. Maybe it really was a salesman, although he hadn't thought so. And it wasn't related to his writing, he worked under a pseudonym which as far as he knew had yet to be revealed. 

“Mr Rhodes, my name's Detective John Cena and I'm calling you from St Louis.”

“You don't sound like you're from Missouri,” said Cody automatically. He had gotten nervous as soon as the man said detective and he tended to talk too much and utter nonsense when he was nervous.

“I'm actually originally from Boston.” The cop chuckled and Cody wondered if he realised that he sounded nervous too. “I'm in Missouri due to a case I've been called in on... can I be frank with you Mr Rhodes?”

“Please,” said Cody, another tremor of worry going through him. Why the hell would a cop from Missouri be calling him?  
“I work in missing persons. As you can imagine, there are literally thousands of people go missing every year. Some of them are just runaways, people who don't want to be found for one reason or another. Others don't have happy endings. But for the most part, people show up or we have an idea of why they might have been moved to leave their homes. There are very few cases where people simply vanish without a trace.”

“But you have one there,” said Cody, starting to get an understanding. It was strange; when he was called about his ability it was usually a family member who did so and he would have to explain that he didn't get an imprint of what people had been doing, but of what had happened to an object. If the person hadn't had it when they went missing then he would have no idea where they might have gone. However if it showed up once they had gone, as had been the case with the girls ring that night, then he might be able to track them... or he might not. It didn't always work. 

“We have six,” said John grimly. “Young children, the oldest all of eight years old. Vanished into thin air and we don't have any kind of a lead at all. We're worried it might happen again. Right now – well, I'm willing to consider anything, no matter how outlandish it might seem.”

Cody wasn't offended, his abilities had been described as more than outlandish before. “I assume that you're calling because I've had some success in finding missing people before. I hate to pour cold water on your problems detective, but unless I had something that was actually with one of your missing children at the time they went missing, then I wouldn't be able to get much from it. I might be able to see if they'd met someone and were groomed, but I probably wouldn't even be able to get that.”

There was a slight pause. “Actually, we have something,” said John, almost casually. “The latest child wore glasses, was very short sighted and would never have gone anywhere willingly without them. They showed up at a local park – another child recognised them, they had Daffy Duck on the side, took them over to his house. That was when they realised the child was missing. He's six.”

Cody knew it was a shameless tactic to tug on his heartstrings and it was all the more annoying for the fact that it worked. Six years old, he thought to himself. Six, and vanished – and if he left his glasses behind, then he probably didn't go easily or quietly. He was probably snatched rather than wandered off.  
If there's a chance I can do something, then I have a responsibility to at least try.

“You might be our last hope of finding anything,” John admitted while Cody was still lost in thought. “We have nothing. No witnesses, clues, nothing. People are afraid and right now, I'll take anything at all. I can't justify the department paying for a plane ticket of course, and I'll understand if you can't come all the way out here, but I can probably help you out myself with the money--”

“I can afford it,” said Cody, not realising he intended to go until the words came out of his mouth. But he had always trusted his instincts and they were telling him that he needed to go. It wasn't as if there was any reason he couldn't take a few days and if nothing came of it, he could at least see a city he'd never been to before. “Although I'm not sure that it would be prudent for me to just walk into the station and tell everyone why I'm there.”

John chuckled, sounding relieved that Cody had agreed. “No, it's not. I'll give you my phone number, you can call me when you arrive and I'll meet you somewhere, explain a little more.” He paused. “Uh, when do you think you can make it?”

“Let me pack some stuff and check plane times. I might even be there this evening, or tomorrow, if I can get a flight.”

“That soon?”

“I work from home, so it makes no difference if I do it now or wait for the weekend. And I get the feeling you'd rather not wait.”

“It's better than I'd hoped for,” admitted John. “Thank you Mr Rhodes.” He reeled off his phone number and Cody programmed it into his own phone before bidding John goodbye and hanging up, lost in thought. The cop had to be desperate if he was asking a psychic of any kind for help, which wasn't a good sign for those kids. But Cody wasn't at all sure he'd be able to shed any light on their whereabouts, although he devoutly hoped that he could. The questions afterwards were a pain in the ass, the suspicions and the odd looks hurt if he let them, but it was worth it. It was always worth it, even if all they found were bodies. It was closure if nothing else. 

Cody went over to his computer, fighting to stay awake just a little while longer, going onto an airline website and booking himself a cheap ticket for a flight to leave at 6pm that evening, which would give him time to pack a few things and have a sleep before he went. He could be in St Louis before it got too late to meet up with John, or so he hoped. He considered booking a room but decided to wait until he got there, thinking that it was a big place and he didn't know it well; he didn't want to be stuck miles and miles away from where he wanted to be. 

On a whim he found a St Louis newspaper online and searched for the story. It wasn't too hard to find. The last child to go missing had been two months previously, the child that John had told him about. The newspaper had made the connection to other missing children, although it stressed that it might not be linked. However, the similarities were too much to ignore. Small children, probably not runaways, all missing close to home. The newspaper pointed out that often the alarm hadn't been raised until several hours later, something that made Cody raise his eyebrows. Perhaps a clue might have been found had anyone known earlier, but Cody wasn't convinced. The last child for example had only been out of his aunt's sight for an hour before another child returned his glasses. No one had seen a stranger in the area and no one could think of any reason for the child to be missing. There was no custody issue, the mother was in jail and there had been no father on the scene. 

In fact, the newspaper pointed out, that was a similarity that all the missing children shared – their mothers were out of the picture. Two had lived with their fathers, mothers deceased. Another two had also lived with their fathers, mother in jail in the case of one and simply walked out and not returned with the other. Two others had lived with guardians, a foster parent and an aunt and uncle. It was strange, very strange and Cody wasn't surprised that the police were anxious to find them. Aside from the lack of mothers, the children had little else in common. They were from all points of the social and financial sector, fathers and caretakers doting or distant, different genders and ethnicities. In Cody's limited experience, kidnappers or murderers had a type and yet there seemed to be only that tenuous link between them. 

He looked for a long time at the picture of the latest missing child, a black boy with a wide smile and a missing tooth. The Daffy Duck glasses sat on his nose and it gave Cody the creeps to know that he would soon be holding them in his hand, seeing if he could give this boy some help, or some peace. At least ensure that he didn't fall into the forgotten files of some police officer, the case gathering dust and forever marked 'open'. 

Eventually he turned off the computer and decided to get a few hours sleep, but he wasn't surprised when his rest was broken and unsatisfactory, his dreams dark and disturbed.

~::~

“A psychic? Are you kidding me? Do you know how crazy that sounds?”

“At this stage in the game I’d say we can afford to be a little crazy, Randy,” John sighed as he looked across at the man sitting opposite him across the table of the diner they had slipped in to. Upon finding out that Cody could be joining him that evening to help with the case John had decided that he may as well grab a bite to eat to refuel… and drink his own bodyweight in coffee.

“Is it going that bad?” Randy asked, momentarily distracted when his phone buzzed in his pocket, opening the message. When he saw the text therein his lips quirked into a wan smile and he rolled his eyes before tapping out: _I’ll c wht I cn do. Where r u now?_ Before then sending the message back.

It occurred to him that he was probably being hypocritical as hell laughing at John attempting to use a psychic in his case when Randy had been taking tips from a guy who had conversations with (typically) empty chairs and yet knew things that no one else could know. 

“Who’s that?" 

“Ted.” 

“Ted?” 

“Kid from Florida I knew back when I was younger… our dads went to school together or something. He was a nice kid, but a little odd.” 

“Odd? Coming from you that’s almost complimentary.” 

Randy quirked a brow, “Why’d you say that?” he stirred some more sugar into his own coffee and considered a moment before adding some milk into it to even the flavour out. 

Dimples appeared in John’s cheeks and Randy mentally sighed as the young waitress behind the counter (who looked barely old enough to know about the kind of things she clearly had in mind when she looked at his companion) all but swooned at the sight of them. 

“Well, usually you just call people ‘assholes’ or ‘boring’, so to be considered ‘odd’ means there was something about him that got your attention.” 

Saving his life with the help of what had seemed to be Ted’s ‘imaginary friend’ could sure as hell be considered a way of getting his attention; but he wasn’t about to get into that with John. He trusted the man with his life (and sure, he had to have some belief otherwise he wasn’t about to be soliciting the help of a psychic himself) but he knew Ted had gone through a lot of shit thanks to his ‘gift’ and he didn’t want to add to it. 

“I guess you could say that.” 

“Was he cute?” 

“Would you be jealous if he was?” 

“Of a kid you knew when you were about six? Hardly.” 

“What if I told you he’s pretty hot now?” 

“Then I’d be making you sleep on the sofa tonight." 

_“OK; he’s not _that_ hot.” _

John chuckled slightly before exhaling and glancing at his watch. “What time’s the kid due?” 

“He’s not that much younger than you—” 

“But he is a bit younger, which means he’s positively an infant compared to you—” 

“I wasn’t kidding about the couch you know,” John threatened, but the twinkle in his eye belied his anger. 

“So, when’s he due?” 

“Dunno… he reckoned about ten, but you know what flights can be like.” 

“Has he got somewhere to stay?” 

John looked almost embarrassed, “I didn’t ask.” 

Randy clucked his tongue and rolled his eyes, yelping softly when John kicked him under the table, “OW!” 

“You deserved that.” 

“What if he gets stranded ‘cause he thought you’d sort somewhere out?” Randy groused as he bent down slightly to rub his injured shin. 

John shrugged and reached for his own cup of coffee that had cooled significantly since he and Randy had started talking, “Then he can have the couch and you can sleep on the floor.” 

“Remind me why I’m with you again?” Randy sniped playfully as he felt his phone buzzing again, absently pulling it out of his pocket and then opening the message. The response made a strange prickle of something trace down his spine. 

_On bus 2 Missouri_


	2. Chapter One: Must Be A Charlatan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John has an interesting day meeting two psychics, and learning a little more about Ted and Randy's shared past. What he learns throws him for the loop for more than one reason.

When the plane touched down Cody had to admit that he couldn’t have been more relieved; although he wasn’t exactly unused to flying thanks to his work taking him numerous places (like when he got scheduled for international book tours etc.) but that didn’t mean he liked it.

Exiting the plan Cody turned his phone back on and made his way towards baggage claim. Despite the growing lateness of the evening the airport was pretty packed with people coming and going, and had Cody needed one of those suitcases on wheels like the rest of the holiday makers or whatever they were then there was every chance that he would have been there for several hours more, but as things stood his Zelda duffel-bag was pretty easy to locate and he made his way towards the front collection area.

It occurred to him then that he had no idea what John looked like so even if the other man had remembered and arrived to collect him he was probably going to stand there looking like a complete idiot even if the man was stood right in front of him. Should he ring him? Cody thought, toying with his phone inside of his jacket pocket, starting to bring it out to access when he noticed something.

A man, tall and surprisingly wide, bright blue eyed and with a reminiscent military-style hair-cut, stood head and shoulders about most of the other people waiting, and in one of his hands he held a hastily scrawled sign: CODY. Under other circumstances Cody might have commented on how this was how he’d been picked up from airports several times by chauffeurs, but it didn’t seem appropriate given the seriousness of the nature of what he was there for.

Adjusting the strap of the bag over his shoulder he moved towards the man, “John?”

John blinked, somewhat surprised by how attractive the man before him was. A writer? He looked like he could be an underwear model or something. Not that he was considering him in any way more attractive than Randy. Heck, the boy could probably be Randy’s protégé… and he should probably answer him now before the poor guy thought there was something wrong with him to just keep staring mutely.

“Cody,” Cody accepted the hand extended to him and shook it, “I can’t thank you enough for coming.”

“Given the circumstances I thought sooner would be better than later.”

“You thought right,” John balled up the piece of paper with Cody’s name scrawled on it and then tossed it into a bin carelessly on the way through the main doors and out to the car park, “Sooner is better. I’m sorry it meant you had to travel so late though. Ah, here we are—“his BMW sat ready and waiting right where he’d left it, “Get in.”

Climbing into the passenger’s side Cody clipped his seatbelt in and then said, “Have you had any developments since we spoke last?”

A shadow passed over John’s face and Cody felt guilty despite being reassured that he was entitled to ask questions since he was supposed to be helping the man and all.

“No. Unfortunately we’ve got nothing, still.”

“I’m sure something will come up soon,” Cody tried to reassure and John quirked a tired smile.

“Let’s just say I’m hoping you could give us something no one else has.”

So, no pressure then?

“Say, Cody, do you have somewhere to stay?”

“Huh? Oh,” Cody fished into his coat pocket and pulled out the printed receipt he had gotten that morning when he’d booked his flight, “Yeah I do—“he reeled off the name of his address, “I just booked in for a couple of days since I, well, I wasn’t too sure how long this would take.” A week or two in a hotel wouldn’t drain his finances although he’d prefer not to linger longer than he absolutely had to as things could get awkward when one overstepped their welcome regardless of how much use they had proved they could be prior.

“Nice place,” John nodded, “Good location,” it wasn’t too far from the station and centred quite nicely in town so Cody wouldn’t be lacking any necessary amenities whilst he stayed, “I can’t promise we’ll be able to reimburse you all of your costs but—”

Waving a hand Cody merely offered the smile, “I don’t do any of this for the money John.”

If he was wholly honest he’d rather not do it at all, but it was just one of those things that you had to get on with. He could do what he could and so he should make the most out of it. He had told himself that a long time ago, and although it sometimes got unbearable Cody reminded himself of that responsibility; if he couldn’t do something with his abilities then he was likely to go mad.

“You’re a good man Cody.”

“You haven’t even seen if I can really help yet.”

“Believe it or not I’ve heard nothing but good things about you.”

“Surely a policeman like yourself doesn’t trust hearsay?” Cody asked lightly.

John chuckled softly as he switched gears and turned another corner to join a light trickle of traffic heading away from the airport and towards the town centre.

“Believe it or not I’ve found hearsay to be invaluable.”

“Smart man…” Cody murmured, glancing out of the window at the street-lights and car headlights illuminating the darkness around them, “You’d be amazed at what you could learn if you just listen.”

A curious look crossed John’s face then and Cody waited, already anticipating what John was about to ask him. It had long since become apparent that even when people had researched him they still wanted to hear from him, in his own words, what it was he could do, how it worked.

As if it was some kind of custom-made game weapon that he had created for himself.

“So… How does you… y’know… how does it work?”

“My ‘gift’,” Cody did the inverted commas with his fingers to show that he certainly hadn’t selected that particular name himself but merely used it because he was otherwise stumped for one, “-is, well, empathetic I guess you could say. Remember how I told you that I needed something that had belonged to the person?”

“Yeah,” John nodded, having a vague idea as to why that was given the few things he’d seen about psychics before… though most of them had turned out to be phonies after nothing more than rewards and glory.

If Cody had any inkling as to what John was thinking he didn’t show it.

“Well, when people have owned something, handled it, felt anything towards it, they leave… uh, technically speaking it’s like a residue behind, a signature that is unique to each person but that has lingering kind of common traits.”

“Wait—“John’s brow furrowed, glancing at Cody as they pulled up at a red light, “How can something be unique and common?” he didn’t sound mocking, more puzzled, and Cody supposed a general intrigue was better than nothing; it was more than most people afforded him.

“Each person’s signature is unique, follow me so far?”

“Yep, got that bit.”

“But the common parts are like… A sense of their emotions, the things they last felt when they handled or otherwise had contact with the object in question which I can use to try and trace their wider signature to determined what they are feeling, what kind of condition they’re in now. That’s why it’s usually the most helpful for me if I have something that they have a lot of contact with before they go missing…”

“So the glasses will be good?”

“Probably too good.”

Since Cody had clearly meant that to be an admittance that John wasn’t supposed to hear the man let it pass.

“Would you be OK to come by the station first thing tomorrow?” he asked instead to try and lead them both out of the somewhat pregnant silence that had descended between them.

“Absolutely… I can’t promise to be all sunshine and smiles though.”

“Not a morning person?” John chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking that you can’t be a worse non-morning person than my partner, is all.”

~::~

“The hell you doin’ in Missouri?”

“Nice to hear from you too asshole. Did you manage to get hold of the guy’s brother?”

“I’ve got some things in the works on it, chill out will ya? And don’t gimme that… Did you have another one? You never actually did tell me why you’re suddenly visiting.”

Sighing slightly Ted rolled his eyes as he adjusted his back-pack with one hand before adjusting his phone against his ear with the other, “It’s not like a cookie Randy.”

“I’m sure you’d bitch less if they were.”

“I do not bitch, dick.”

“Man you’re grouchy… when was the last time you got laid?”

Blushing Ted scowled and skirted around an open manhole cover and then continued down the road towards the hostel that he had written down the directions for after locating a decent looking one on his phone. Of course since he hadn’t been able to book in advance they could potentially turn him away but it wouldn’t be the first time that something like that had happened and he’d just deal with that when he got to it.

“Is sex all you think about?”

“No,” Randy said airily, “Sometimes I think about food.”

“You’re such a riveting human being.”

“You’re just jealous.”

Ted sighed slightly; Randy wasn’t wrong even though he had only meant the words as a joke: Ted was jealous of the fact that Randy was a normal person who wasn’t afflicted with the same gift that he was.

“Ted? Man, you there?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry… I was just trying to figure out where the hostel is.”

“Hostel?” the disdain in Randy’s tone was apparent, “We do have decent hotels here you know?”

“And some of us don’t have steady enough employment to be frivolous with their spending.”

A low chuckle sounded down the phone, “You’re probably the only kid I know whose dad is a millionaire and they’re a goddamn penny-pincher.”

“Would you rather I was a brat?”

“Hell no… I can barely tolerate you as it is.”

“Fuck you.”

“You wish.”

“Yeah right---”

“Seriously, where are you right now?”

“Uh… On the corner of the street by a McDonalds and a gym… is anyone else but me spotting the irony of this?”

“Trust me, you stop caring after a week. My advice? Gym and then McDonalds.”

“Counter-productive much?”

“You get abs as awesome as mine then you can start preaching to me.”

“How does John stand you?”

“He loves me, duh. Hey, turn around.”

“Randy, that story went out of kids’ horror like ten years ago—”

“Just turn around you dickhead.”

Turning, Ted quirked a small smile as he saw the familiar, if slightly more enhanced face of his one good friend. Randy had probably been the only real friend he had had who didn’t laugh at him when he ‘talked to people who weren’t there’ and Randy had stood up for him on numerous occasions when children in their neighbourhood had targeted Ted for vicious verbal and physical attacks. He’d probably be able to recognise him no matter how much time passed between visits.

“You know, an outsider watching could mistaken this scene pretty badly…”

“Ask me if I care,” Randy winked and opened the passenger side door, “Get in.”

“The hostel should be just around the corner,” Ted cocked his head, “I know this car is like your child and everything but that seems like a bit of dead mileage to me.”

“We’re not going to the hostel.”

“Where are we going?”

Randy eyed Ted as he got into the car, almost making the blonde squirm somewhat. Randy’s stormy eyes had always been able to give the impression that he could see right through you, right into your very soul… he might not be gifted like Ted was, but when it came to people he certainly had a talent that Ted had never managed to acquire despite his best efforts.

“You can stay with me and John.”

Immediately Ted held his hands up as though to ward Randy off, “Uh uh, no way! I’ve never even met John before! What’s he gonna say when you turn up with some strange guy on your doorstep?” if he’d been expecting that Randy would take a moment to stop and think about his suggestion Ted was disappointed; Randy merely scoffed and waved a hand at him.

“He won’t mind. Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t know about you. I have mentioned you before.”

Ted winced, “OK, now it’s probably even more important that I never meet him in person.”

“I said nice things you know.”

“Your version and my version of nice differ.”

“Does you version of a decent late-night snack differ from donuts?”

“What kind of question is that?” Ted’s stomach rumbled and the blonde blushed, ducking his head as Randy sent a critical look his way.

“When was the last time you ate?”

“Uh… This morning? Though,” he paused and patted his stomach gingerly, “I don’t think any licensed health official would consider that food.”

Reversing the car Randy made his way back towards McDonalds, ignoring Ted’s protests; he knew the other was only complaining because he was conscious of the lovehandles he had never been able to shift despite much sport and many a gym visit in his life as opposed to an actual dislike of the food.

“I’m gonna get you something to eat and then we can go back to my place. You can say hi to John and then shower… you smell of piss, sweat and public transport.”

“Such a charmer.”

“Of course.”

“If I’m going to be here more than two days I’ll move into the hostel.”

“No you won’t,” Randy insisted, and then added, “Maybe you can tell me why you’re here before John gets back huh?”

“Why, where is he?”

Randy suddenly looked amused, “Funnily enough… He’s going to pick up someone like you.”

“Like me?” Ted asked, momentarily clueless.”

“Yeah, kid’s gifted like you.”

~:~

“Gifted,” said Ted sharply. “Why the hell is he doing that?”

“Calm down, it's coincidence,” said Randy easily. “I didn't know what he had planned 'til this morning. It's the case he's working on, he's chasing up missing kids and there's no leads at all. It eats at him. I guess he reached the end of his rope with having nothing to go on, he called a psychic.”

“What kind of psychic?” Ted paused. “And in any case, I'm not psychic.”

“Nah, you're just all sixth sense.” Randy half-expected Ted to come back with a healthy fuck you but he looked way too tense at the mention of the other gifted person. “He's one of those who takes an object and tells you what happened to the person it belongs to.”

Ted relaxed. “Oh, a charlatan.”

“I don't know how you can say that when you're able to do things other people can't.”

“I see people who were alive, they had souls that aren't at rest for whatever reason. I don't think that jewellery talks to me.”

“Maybe there's something in it,” said Randy. “After all, there's people that call you a fake as well. How many places did the cops open a file on you thinking that you had something to do with what you were telling them?”

“Too many to count. But I'm not a fake. I wish I was a fake.” Ted stared out of the window. “Anyone famous?”

“I never heard of him, but I don't pay that much attention. Cody someone.”

Ted shrugged. “Doesn't ring a bell. But I don't pay much attention to anything like that, I try to avoid all of it. You think he'll be any help?”

“I don't know.” Randy looked sideways at Ted. “Why are you here? I know you usually follow the, what did you call it? Inner compass. But why did it lead you here?”

“This time, I haven't a clue.” Ted slouched into the car seat. “I looked through the papers and your missing kids even rings a bell, I saw it when I was browsing. Hell, I don't even know for sure that I should be here here. Somewhere in Missouri, that's all I know. I don't know why and I don't know what I'm supposed to do now I'm here.”

Randy considered it. “Maybe you'll see something that'll point you in the right direction – or perhaps your compass knows that you've got a friend here and knows that you don't have to have anything other than the state to get to where you're supposed to be.”

“Maybe. But it wouldn't be the first time I've gone chasing around some state trying to find where I'm supposed to be, or some lead from someone who got taken from one town to another.”

“You're expecting some dead people to show up?”

Ted chuckled dryly. “Randy, the dead are everywhere. I just don't know why I can see them when no one else does. Hell, you know I don't even see all of them.”

“Right.” Randy grinned. “Hey, but you don't have to start anything tonight. Tonight, we're catching up like normal people. I'm sure you'll be able to wait until tomorrow to start finding what brought you here this time. We'll have a few beers, talk about old times and hey, you can meet John!”

“What did you tell John about me?”

Randy shrugged. “I didn't tell him what you can do, if that's what you're wondering – hell, if I'd known that you were heading this way I would have suggested you, but I know how much you hate it when people get the heads-up before you even meet them so I've never brought it up. He knows your name, he knows we're old friends that keep in touch and that's all.”

“Oh?” Ted gave him a sharp look. “I thought you didn't have secrets. But you couldn't have told him about what happened when we were kids without telling him about me.”

“I know.” Randy looked straight ahead at the quiet road ahead. “I might have neglected to mention that.”

“Why?”

“Like I said. You don't like me talking about what you can do to people who don't know you. So I couldn't really tell him about it until he met you. You'll meet him and then I can fill him in. I can keep a promise to both of you.”

Ted smiled a little, shaking his head. “You're oddly noble sometimes Randy.”

“Nah. Until I heard he was calling in a psychic, I thought John would think it was a load. Now I'm not so sure.”

~:~

John had asked Cody if he would like to join them for a bite to eat but Cody had declined. John supposed he didn't blame the man; they barely knew one another, Cody had travelled a long way and there was potentially grim work to do the following day. Still, he would have liked to get to know him on a personal level, he seemed like a nice kid and John couldn't deny he was curious about what Cody said he could do. He had expected a little more theatre but Cody was completely matter-of-fact, seeming almost embarrassed about talking about it. And there had been that moment when he had seemed almost bleak and angry, although it had passed in a hurry. 

He was on his way back when he suddenly realised it might not have been such a good idea anyway, because Ted would be at their house – Randy had insisted that his old friend stayed with them. John had heard on and off about Ted, he'd been told plenty but there was something about what Randy told him that seemed almost cagey, as if he was hiding something. John suspected that Randy had slept with the old friend and was hiding the fact because they were still in touch, but even with that he had his doubts; Randy had hardly been a virgin when they had met and hadn't been especially ashamed of anyone he had slept with. He'd never hidden anything and there didn't seem to be any kind of romantic feeling there. But it was the only thing that John could come up with. 

From what he understood, Randy's father had been friendly with Ted's when Randy had been living in Florida for a time and they had maintained the relationship even though the older boy would have been more like Randy's age. Ted's parents were millionaires and Ted himself didn't seem to have any means of supporting himself, moving from place to place without any kind of reason behind it. Ted's new whereabouts had always been a little vague as well, not where he was but why he was there and John wondered if Randy was as cynical about Ted's lifestyle as he was. It seemed like Ted was more than happy to follow his heart and satisfy his wanderlust on his father's money. Even if the one time he had opined this, while Randy was texting Ted one night, Randy had laughed a little and made some cryptic remark about Ted declining to take his parents money where ever possible. 

There was no real telling what Ted would be like from what Randy had told him but John thought he was probably quite arrogant, opinionated, dismissive and entitled. That was his experience of the rich and the spoiled at least and he saw no reason that Ted would be any different. The only reason he had agreed that Ted could stay with them in the first place was because Randy was so clearly fond of the man and because something had seemed slightly off about the situation. Why would Ted have booked himself into a hostel, travelling by bus, when he was so clearly able to fly in and stay in some fancy hotel?

When he got back he pushed his key into the door, already knowing the others were back – the lights were on and when he opened the door he could hear Randy laughing at something, the kind of hearty laugh that he sometimes used when John told him of someone who had tripped themselves up in the course of one of his investigations. Curious, John walked through to the living room to see what Randy's old friend was actually like. 

Randy looked around when John walked in and grinned at him. “Here he is. John, this is Ted. Teddy, my partner John.”

John glanced over to the young man just standing to greet him and immediately realised that his idle suppositions had been wrong. He had seen pictures of Ted before of course but those pictures hadn't been telling a whole story. Since they had gotten home Ted had recently showered, his blonde hair damp still, wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants. His body language didn't broadcast arrogance, or even that much confidence. He seemed a little shy if anything, but he extended his hand willingly enough. “It's nice to meet you, finally. And thank you for letting me stay in your home.”

Ted was well spoken, John noted, polite almost to a fault. His eyes were shadowed, blue and maybe a little watchful, he wore a day or so of stubble on his chin. But his handshake was warm and firm and John found himself liking the young man almost immediately, even though he had assumed that he wouldn't. 

“You're more than welcome,” he replied. “I'm sorry we don't have a spare room.”

“The couch is more than good,” said Ted with a smile. 

“He'll be too out of it to notice,” said Randy jovially. “We're playing catch-up over a few beers and Ted tells me he's not had a proper drink in weeks. Hell, the floor would do.” He winked at John. “You're gonna have a few too, right?”

John shrugged. “One or two perhaps, but I've got to deal with Cody in the morning and I don't wanna do that hungover.”

He noticed that Randy and Ted exchanged a quick look and decided that Randy had shared Cody's presence and what it meant. “I take it Randy already filled you in on the psychic?”

Ted glanced down at the beer in his hands. “Well, yeah. He did.”

“You're not buying that he's for real I take it.”

Ted refused to look up, taking great interest in his beer. “I have no idea. I think sometimes people will try anything at all to find hope. But there are some people who take advantage, others who feel compelled to help. So I really don't know. Maybe he is. Did he say he'd had some flash about the case?”

“No.” John chuckled ruefully. “I was thinking about it in the back of my head – y'know, curious since I wasn't getting much from my investigations and there's always that wonder if it'll take you on a whole new tangent. I can't go too much into it of course, but I started to feel like I was banging my head against a brick wall and when it comes to a missing person, I didn't really want to wait for the next one so that I could get more information. I heard that Cody had some success quite recently and I'd heard that he'd helped out other departments – the guys have something of a grapevine about that kind of thing...”

For the first time Ted looked up, looking almost worried. John noticed, but didn't know if he should make anything of it. 

“They talk, like cops do. When I checked it out, a couple of people said that families had gone to him, he never approached anyone for money and the like. And he had a good success rate when he had acted. Occasionally he refused to but earlier on, he said that he needed certain circumstances to act and spelled them all out. Hell, same thing as he said to me on the phone. Hasn't asked for money to come down here either.” 

“What's he like?” Randy asked, pretending to be casual. John always knew the difference. 

“I don't really know, I didn't talk to him for all that long. He seems pleasant, helpful. Maybe a little quiet on the self-promotion side, which wasn't what I expected. He's a writer and he sometimes sounds like it, but mostly he seemed normal enough. He was quite good at explaining it all to me, I'm not sure that I really understand anyway. If he's helpful that's good. Otherwise I've not lost anything. He hasn't asked for anything and he didn't even seem to be looking forward to trying to help.”

“Probably not looking forward to what he might find out,” said Ted, then glanced up as if wondering who had spoken. John thought he hadn't intended to speak, perhaps he was tired after travelling. Still, it seemed strange that he refused to say either that it could be a good thing, that some people were able to do it, or had scoffed at the very idea. The discussion seemed to make him almost jumpy. 

“Maybe he won't find out anything,” said John with a shrug. “I suppose we'll find out tomorrow. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you when you were in the middle of catching up.”

“That's okay,” said Ted with a rather infectious smile that John had to answer – he found that he liked Ted, no matter if he was a little strange. Probably he was just tired and shy and trying to get involved in the conversation without causing offence. “Beer?”

“I suppose one or two won't hurt me,” said John cheerily. 

Randy laughed and passed him a beer, doling out another to Ted before claiming one for himself. “So, you were in Bangor? What's that like?”

“Oddly like a Stephen King novel,” said Ted dryly and Randy chuckled. “I wasn't there for long though. Then I went to Chicago for a few months.” 

“Always wanted to go there,” said Randy fondly. “Maybe the next time we go away?”

John looked amused. “Maybe, but whenever the topic comes up, you're all about where the sun is.”

“I like to top up my tan--”

“You always were a vain bugger,” interjected Ted casually. 

“He still is,” replied John with a chuckle.

“What is this, gang up on Randy day?” Randy faked a pout and folded his arms sulkily. 

“You'll get wrinkles,” warned Ted and John laughed again. Ted stretched, putting his beer on the table next to his things. John noticed that he had the latest phone on there, very nice and very expensive, by contrast the wallet looked years old and incredibly battered, the kind that was built to last but had been well used over the years. No keys, the other staple of a man's pockets. Ted stood up. “Excuse me a moment.”

“Three beers and you have to tap a kidney already?” Randy rolled his eyes. “You never change DiBiase.”

“Fuck you.” Ted flipped him off, gave John a slightly apologetic look as if he thought he was about to get in trouble for the language, then headed off to the bathroom. 

“He seems cool,” said John. “Maybe a little jumpy.”

“He can get like that around people he doesn't know,” said Randy, tipping a healthy amount of beer into his mouth. “He doesn't want to make a bad impression is all.”

It seemed like an odd way to put it John thought and then cursed himself. He needed to start leaving the police alertness in the office. “He hasn't. I like him, he seems quite interesting. Well travelled. Doesn't he want to stay in one place for a while?”

“I don't think that's an option for him.”

John was about to comment on that when an unfamiliar ring tone interrupted him, the Jaws theme he was amused to note. Ted's phone, left alone, lit up like a Christmas tree and John leaned over to look at the display out of habit. And paused. The phone showed a picture of the caller as well as the name and it was someone he knew. It took him a few seconds to recall who it was, it wasn't someone he knew well but the face was a little familiar and the name brought it all back. 

“Huh?”

The phone rang off a few seconds before Ted returned to the room, looking flustered. “Isn't that always the way? You leave the room for a few minutes and the phone rings--”

“The way that phone flashes, I couldn't help but notice who it was,” said John casually and he saw Randy narrow his eyes, recognising the tone John used to put people at their ease before he struck with the difficult questions. “Dwayne Johnson. I know him, a little. We went to a couple of training seminars together, the national ones. Isn't he still a cop?”

“Uh-huh,” mumbled Ted, looking away – he couldn't lie well, that much was obvious. “I met him in the last place I was in, I guess he was just calling to make sure I got here okay.”

John might not know Dwayne all that well but he was pretty sure the man wasn't the kind to call simply to check on the well being of a new friend. But he didn't want to upset Ted by questioning him and Randy seemed to be getting pretty annoyed with the line of questioning. “It's a pretty weird coincidence, huh? Then again, they say that people are connected in unusual ways.”

Ted glanced over at Randy and gave a little shrug. Randy rolled his eyes and made some gesture and it was John's turn to narrow his eyes. They weren't even trying to hide the silent conversation from him and it was starting to piss him off. 

“Is there something you two think I should know?”

Ted sighed deeply, dropping into his place on the couch. “I'm quite okay to go back to the hostel.”

“You won't be going--” started Randy. 

“Hey, I'm just throwing it out there,” said Ted snappishly. “Before I say anything else, I understand if I can't stay. I'm used to it, it's fine.” He looked over at John. “I asked Dwayne to do me a favour when I was leaving the last place I was at. Find someone for me and give him a message. He probably didn't like it, but he owed me. Not that he liked that either.”

John looked between the two men and shook his head. He didn't have a clue what Ted was talking about. 

“You should be the one to tell him,” Ted told Randy. “It's your story and he's your partner.”

“What?” said John sharply. “Tell me what?”

“Don't be like that John, it's nothing sinister.” Randy reached for another beer, a frown on his face. “It's just that this happened a long time ago and I made a promise to Ted that I wouldn't talk about him too much. I needed to clear it with him before I broke that promise.”

Ted gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Come the morning, or the day after, it'd probably be out in the open anyway. Maybe not that part, but the rest of it. I knew that coming here and that's why I said I could stay at the hostel.”

“You don't have to be a martyr around me Ted, it gets old. And I owe you more than this Wayne Thompson.”

“Johnson,” corrected John absently. 

“Whatever. Are you going to enlighten me or are you gonna keep dropping cryptic clues all night?”

Randy tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair, glancing over at Ted. “It happened a long time ago. When we were kids. The olds went to Florida for a couple of years, you know that. Our dads were tight but I wasn't much like Mike, Ted's brother, he was okay but he wasn't into anything I was and we didn't have much to talk about. And Ted and Brett were just – y'know, snot-nosed kids. Boring.”

“Screw you,” said Ted automatically, without any real heat. 

“It was some occasion – might have been Ted's dads birthday but I don't really remember now. Might have been nothing more than a good excuse to get together and hang out. I was just about fourteen and wanting to get into trouble, but I could hardly do that when the adults were everywhere. In the end Mike suggested that we all went to the local park for an hour or so, played some baseball. It sounded boring but better than listening to the adults and we'd done nothing but swim all morning and I was bored of that too. So we headed off down there. It was a good neighbourhood, the park was huge but there was a diamond near the street, away from the skate park and the play area. So we went there and started batting a ball about.”

Randy smirked. “It wasn't bad but it wasn't fun either. Brett whined about being put into outfield none-stop but bowling at him you couldn't put much power behind it. He was kinda little. Mike could hit it and run around and Ted wasn't bad either but my bro stayed behind and there's not much fun when there's only four of you. But then a couple of other kids asked to join in and it wasn't too bad. I would have preferred to be somewhere else though and it didn't help that they were from our school and used Ted's nickname whenever they yelled at him for missing the catch.”

John looked over at Ted, but he wasn't telling what his nickname at school might have been. 

“Anyway, it was getting boring and I thought I was way too grown up, too mature and sophisticated to be smacking a ball around trying to entertain a bunch of little kids...”

~:~

Randy was the first one to notice that there was a van pulled up at the side of the curb, a man leaning against it smoking a cigarette. Randy had been sneaking smokes for a whole three months now and thought he might be able to bum one off this guy. He was six foot already and few people considered him a child any longer. 

By this time one of the newcomers was taking hits at the ball and Randy was supposed to be in the outfield, but his interest in the game had been waning for a while. He strolled casually over to the man and checked him out, him and the van. It had clearly once had something painted on it and that had been painted over, he couldn't make out the words but they had been in red letters. 

The man saw his interest. “I was in a band, we broke up,” he said casually, taking a drag on the cigarette. “You like rock music?”

“Yeah.”

“I played guitar, hard rock y'know? But the other guys ended up with other things to do. My van, I'm not keeping their names on it when they bailed on me.” He looked at the van and laughed. “I suppose I should have done a better job. I'll have to put on another coat, but it's kinda boring. Should get it ready for my next band though.”

“Yeah.” Randy checked out the man himself, who sported what might have been a short haircut that was growing out and looked mildly foolish, a black beanie hat, blue jeans and a shirt with an exploding head on the front. Randy loved the shirt but he wasn't about to tell this guy so. The lessons from his childhood about men in vans with puppies and candy to tempt little boys into trouble occurred to him but he shrugged them off. He was six foot now, he wasn't a kid. He was practically an adult now and he could smoke without coughing up a lung to prove it. 

“Can I bum a smoke off you?”

The man looked amused. “Are you old enough?”

“Sure, I'm eighteen,” lied Randy. He always thought his height let him get away with the lie but didn't realise that his mannerisms and his face gave him away. 

“Fair enough.” The man passed him the packet and Randy took out the cigarette, for the first time wondering if he should be doing this. Mike could narc him out and if he didn't then Brett was just a kid and would probably delight in it. He glanced over his shoulder to see Brett arguing heatedly with the two new kids, Mike watching with a frown on his face. 

“You're stuck babysitting, huh?”

Randy turned his attention back to the man. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

The man watched him playing with the cigarette, trying to work up the courage to smoke it and to hell with what the DiBiase boys might say to his father, then smirked. “Tell you what. If you're worried about the little 'uns telling tales about your nicotine habit, we can sit in the van. Or you can, I don't wanna freak you out or nothing.”

Feeling embarrassed that he was probably giving away his true age and immaturity, Randy shrugged. “Hey, I'm cool right here.”

“Yeah?” The man stared at him, a half-smile on his face. “That's cool. Only what I was about to smoke, I can't exactly do out in the open y'know?”

“You have pot?” Randy was simultaneously filled with excitement and trepidation. He could just see his friends reaction when he went back to school, casually telling them he'd been hanging around with some guitarist who had his own van and supplied him with pot – he'd be the envy of all of them. 

“Hush, not so loud.” The guy looked around and the caution made Randy feel like even more of a rebel. “You never know who's listening in! But yeah, I do. You smoke?”

“Sure,” said Randy, as if he smoked pot every morning along with his first coffee. 

“Step into my parlour a moment then,” said the man with a throaty chuckle. “The shit I got's gonna blow your mind.”

Randy took a couple of steps after him, too excited by the opportunity to pay much attention to the boys he had arrived with and assuming that they were too busy with their game to be paying attention to him. Or so he thought, until someone grabbed his wrist hard, almost yanking his shoulder from its socket. He turned to see Ted standing there, still close to a foot shorter at that time but with a strength he hadn't displayed any time before. And his eyes were wide and frightened.

“There's another kid in the back of the van,” said Ted anxiously. 

“What?” Randy looked over to the van. The sliding door was open a fraction, which was odd, but he didn't see evidence of anyone else in there and so what if there was?

“Kid, what you talking about?” The man chuckled, radiating honest truth. “There's no one else in there.”

Ted looked over to the van and then back at the man. “There is, you just don't know he's still there. But he is. He stayed there even afterwards.”

“Kid,” said the man kindly. “You're not making any sense. Did the ball hit your head?”

Ted didn't even seem to hear him. Not that he wasn't listening. Years later, when Randy was hesitantly trying to explain how it had been, the best he could do was to say it seemed as if Ted could hear some sound too high-pitched for anyone else but loud enough to him to be almost deafening. He was grimacing slightly and then nodded a couple of times, emphatically, like he was agreeing with someone else rather than just himself. 

“His name was Peter,” said Ted rapidly. “He was looking for someone to buy him some whisky, he had some money and he knew if he managed to get hold of that he'd be the big man. He wanted to know what it was like, to be drunk. He was over at the park, not this park – okay! I am! He asked him to go to the shop and buy it for him and he did, he came out with it and offered the van as a ride, where they could split the beer and he had some killer weed and anyway, this guy seemed cool, he was riding in his band van with Trampled Angels written in red on the side. It looked like blood and there was a devils tail and it was just so cool. They drove around for a while, drinking and smoking cigarettes and then they pulled over and got into the back. Peter thought maybe the band wasn't around and hadn't been for a while. He started to get paranoid, he felt sick, he wanted to go home but now he's in the back of the van--”

“SHUT UP!” shouted the man. Randy could see that he had lost all the colour in his face, gone whiter than he would have thought it possible. “You can't know--”

“He had brown hair, except he'd put a streak of red in with spray,” said Ted, shaking visibly and not looking over at the man. He was staring at the van, at the sliding door. “You're wearing his shirt, that's his. He was sick and he couldn't bring his legs to move, or his arms to fight and he was strangled in the back of the van--”

The slap came from nowhere, the man swinging with everything he had. Ted went sprawling into the dirt while the man leaned over him, shouting at him that he was a liar, that he was making it up, that he was a freak and a spy and he couldn't know that. Randy heard a shout from behind him as Mike realised his brother was being attacked but Randy didn't wait for backup, he grabbed the shirt with the exploding head without even thinking about what he was doing, losing his cigarette somewhere, shoving backward with all his might. The man stumbled backward, falling onto his ass and then scrambling away, still shouting hysterically at Ted. But the attention was too much perhaps because he made a break for the van, swinging up into the driver’s seat and gunning the engine. 

“HE'S STILL IN THERE!” Ted screamed and then the van drove away, tearing up the street while Randy stared dumbly after it. Mike finally arrived, shoving Randy out of the way to tend to Ted. And only Randy overheard what the elder brother said to the younger. 

“You can't keep on doing this,” Mike said in a low voice. “There was nothing in the van, nothing at all. No people, no ghosts, no dead children. Nothing but your imagination. You have to stop this!”

“He was in there,” said Ted in a trembling voice. ”He really was.”

Randy looked back at Ted just as the blonde burst into tears, as the other kids approached and the two newcomers starting mumbling comments about the psycho kid. He looked at Ted and he knew. There had been something in the van, something he hadn't seen but Ted had. He had seen it in Ted's eyes, and in the eyes of the man who had tried to lure him into the back, where the last teenager who had been promised rebellion had met death instead. 

He believed that Ted saw what he said he did and had never questioned it ever again. And he knew that he owed Ted a favour he would never be able to repay.

~:~

John blinked a couple of times as Randy finished his story. “How could you be so stupid? Did you really think that just because you're a teenager and tall that an adult couldn't have overpowered you?”

“I don't know that was his intention, exactly,” said Randy, looking shamefaced. “I think though that he might have been y'know. Trying to befriend me. Maybe... I don't know. But I think – no, I know – that at a later date, something would have happened. Something bad.”

John exhaled loudly, wanting to chase down this man who had threatened his lover, even if it had happened years before. “Did he ever show up again?”

“Sure,” replied Randy. “He smashed up the van the same day. Drove right into a lamp post a couple of hours later. The cops thought he was high, he kept telling them there was nobody in the back, he'd checked and there was no one there. They were suspicious and checked it out. They found the kids ID and some other stuff that linked him to the van. The guy matched the DNA on the body of a kid they found a month or so before, strangled and dumped just outside of the city.”

John was silent for a moment. “It was him?”

“Name was Peter. Red streak, just like Ted said, hairspray like he said. Ted knew but there was no way he could have known. Unless he'd seen the guy.” Randy was usually so lighthearted and to see him grave and solemn was a strange experience for John. “That kid, and Ted as well, saved me from something I can't even begin to imagine. I don't even know for sure what it was, only that it would have been bad.”

John's attention went to Ted, who had remained silent throughout. “You're psychic?”

“No.” Ted looked up and shrugged, but the expression in his eyes had changed. He seemed scared, haunted almost. “I don't know anything other than what I'm told. I just see people that most others don't, that's all.”

“And that's why you move around the country, looking for murderers?”

Ted laughed humourlessly. “Hardly. I'd be happy never seeing them at all. But I'm – driven, I suppose. Sometimes I just wake up and know it's time I went somewhere else. Usually I know where, not always. It's like a call and I can't ignore it. I have to go.”

“And you've been called here?”

“To the state at least.” Ted managed a small smile. “I know you're probably thinking that I'm insane and I've involved Randy in it all, but it's the truth. The reason I know Dwayne is that I was able to tell him things that he had no idea about, that no one should have known. He locked me up for three days before he accepted that there was no way I could have been there. But I knew because I was told.”

John shook his head slowly. “This is – this is very hard for me to believe.”

“You believed the other guy,” said Randy pointedly. 

“That seemed so much more – well, easy. He can just see what happened to something before he held it, nothing more. No dead people.” John took a breath. “And he never saved my lovers life. That part, more than anything, makes it hard for me to get my head around.”

Ted nodded, rather wearily as if he had known that was the answer he would get and John wondered how many times someone trying to be polite had said the same kind of thing. He also wondered how many people accused him of being crazy. “I'll understand if you'd rather I left now--”

“No,” said John immediately. “Just because I have a problem processing this, it doesn't change the facts. Something happened that day that led to you stopping Randy going off with a man who already killed one boy. He believes he owes his life to you and anyone who saves Randy's life is automatically on my Christmas list for life. You can stay Ted. I'd rather you did.”

Ted nodded, not saying anything but looking relieved. John looked over at Randy. “But I have some questions about all of this, I think you'll understand that part. I can understand why you didn't tell me but there's so much I don't get and – huh, not to sound offensive but I listened to all kinds of stories about this Cody and be desperate before I'd even give him the benefit of the doubt. I hope your feelings aren't hurt when I tell you that this one story isn't enough to convince me.” He sighed. “Although with who I heard it from, it carries a lot more weight than what I heard about the other guy.”


	3. Chapter Two: On The Same Wavelength (Ish)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Cody have their first meeting, and unbeknownst to one another they are already making headway in the kidnapping case.

“You didn’t have to come along with me,” John said dryly as he fiddled with the tie around his neck; he didn’t much like ties but since he was no longer of a junior rank bearing a uniform he had to dress semi-smartly at least, “It’s not like the kids gonna turn into an axe wielding maniac when he comes out here.”

“How do you know?” Randy asked, though it was clear he genuinely didn’t think they would have any problem with a threat.

“You just wanted to come and be nosy didn’t you?”

“Little bit.”

“You didn’t have to drag Ted along though…”

“It’s Ok,” Ted quirked a smile, “Randy owes me breakfast for this so…”

“See? He’s the millionaire and I always end up paying for him.”

Ted levelled a kick at Randy that he tried to downplay since there were people walking around and Randy almost tripped over himself trying to avoid it. John couldn’t help but quirk a smile at them; you could see them spending time together as kids, regardless of what Randy had said about thinking that most of the time Ted had been too young to hang out with him.

Turning though he looked up in time to see Cody stepping out of the hotel front doors, “Cody!” he called lightly and extended a hand in a wave. The ravenette had clearly remembered that he would come and get him the following morning because he didn’t seem startled to see John there… though he did look a little leery seeing that he wasn’t alone.

Meanwhile Ted and Randy had looked up upon hearing John calling, and they turned immediately to get a look at the man crossing the road. Randy gave a light whistle, “Not what I was expecting…” he was thinking of some overly dorky and theatrical guy dressed up in some robes who lamented about sensing negative energy in the air or whatever it was the phonies did. Although Ted didn’t respond he wasn’t arguing with Randy as for all he hadn’t entirely known what to expect, this wasn’t it. The young man walking towards them looked maybe a few years younger than himself, with dark hair and deep blue eyes--- and perfectly straight white teeth when he offered a brief and awkward smile of greeting upon reaching them.

“Good morning John.”

“Hey,” John said brightly, “How did you sleep?”

Cody shrugged slightly, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, “I slept,” his eyes then moved to Randy and Ted, prompting John into making introductions.

“Cody, this is Randy,” he blushed slightly and cleared his throat, “My partner,” if Cody was surprised he didn’t show it, merely quirked another one of those little smiles and shook Randy’s hand firmly, “And this is Randy’s friend Ted.”

It was as though someone had sucker-punched him in the gut, Cody thought hazily, when deep blue met bright blue, cobalt and cornflower meeting, melding and holding. When Ted’s hand enveloped his own he felt a strong jolt of awareness shooting though him, causing the hair of the back of his arms and neck to stand upright. He heard a sharp hiss of breath being taken in and was pretty sure that he wasn’t the only one thinking that something strange had just happened.

“A pleasure.”

John and Randy exchanged looks before Randy then neatly pulled Ted back by the collar of his jacket and offered his best smile, “Well, Ted and I have errands to run so we’ll catch you later. Good luck—“he then looked to John, “Give me a call or something if you need anything.”

“Of course,” John responded but knew that deep down Randy would already know he did his best not to cause Randy any bother, “I’ll see you two later.”

“Nice meeting you,” Ted found himself saying and Cody looked surprised if still a little guarded before nodding his head, “Same to you.”

As they walked away in the opposite direction to John and Cody, Ted found himself looking around his shoulder.

“I know he’s kinda cute but really Teddy? You may have been out of the game a while but surely you remember not to be so obvious?”

“It’s not like that!” Ted protested as his cheeks coloured even more than the wind had already afforded for, though in the back of his mind he was aware that it probably was like that even if it was just a little bit… Cody had been ridiculously attractive. “I just… I feel like I know him,” and yet he was pretty sure he’d never seen Cody before in his life.

A face that gorgeous he was sure he’d remembered.

Randy suddenly looked a bit weary, “He’s not a dead-guy is he?”

“You shook his head, and you and John could both see him… No, he’s not dead.”

“So you’re still concerned he’s a fake?”

“I’m always concerned about fakes,” Ted murmured, unable to shake the feeling of connection he had gained earlier. The hand with which he had shaken Cody’s was tingling slightly, the same sensation he got when he had slept on his arm accidentally and given himself pins and needles.

~::~ 

“Your boyfriend seems nice,” Cody commented lightly to John as they walked, “Is he a cop?”

John blushed anew and chuckled ruefully, “No, not anymore. He’s kinda between things at the moment,” it wasn’t that Randy was fickle per se, and he easily found jobs modelling and such when the cash-flow became a bit tight, he just struggled to settle. “He’s got a talent for modelling, believe it or not,” he wasn’t sure why he had admitted that aloud other than hoping to maybe engage Cody in some sort of conversation to get to know him some more.

“I can see why,” Cody responded and John felt an equal tinge of jealousy and pride, although he had to begrudgingly admit he respected that even if Cody found Randy attractive (and how could he not?) that he didn’t outwardly show it. If anything he’d been the right measure of polite and respectful to a stranger until Ted had approached him--- and even then it had been more in the atmosphere than anything else that there was something else going on there.

“Yeah,” John paused for a red light to change to green and then started across the road with Cody following him, the station coming into view down the other end of the street in question, “I dunno what Ted does…” he realised that that was probably awkward and so added, “I think he’s a consultant of some kind—“not entirely untrue in an abstract sort of way, “So, was the hotel alright? Did you get any breakfast?” he mentally kicked himself for not checking that before they had come all the way to the station.

“I don’t eat much in the mornings,” Cody responded absently, “But thanks. The hotel was warm, clean, can’t complain.”

Pushing the front door of the station open John let Cody proceed him and then walked towards the front desk to get Cody a visitor’s badge; he didn’t want someone mistaking the unfamiliar civilian in any way and causing him problems… Especially if it meant that John would have to admit about Cody’s talent because he had been intending to keep that particular facet of information to himself for as long as possible.

“Hey Beth,” he greeted a blonde, surprisingly tall (even though she was sitting) woman with bright red lipstick, “We got any passes?”

“Sure John. Who’s it for?”

“Cody here, he’s helping me with my case.”

Arching a brow Beth assessed Cody for a moment, seemed to deem him as acceptable and then wrote his name neatly atop a laminated pass; apparently they would just wipe it off and re-use the badge when they needed to and Cody was done with it.

“Thank you,” he said politely, obediently pinning the badge onto his shirt.

“Cheers Beth,” John grinned, dimples appearing, “Not long now until the big day huh?” when the surprisingly stoic woman blushed red Cody’s brows rose; she looked almost like a totally different woman when she had that kind of expression on her face.

“Not long now,” she acknowledged.

“Where is Adam anyway?”

“It’s his day off; he’s probably still asleep.”

John looked mockingly unimpressed, “And it didn’t occur to you to get Natalya to fill in for you?”

Beth rolled her eyes and swatted at John with a folder before chuckling and then saying pointedly, “Don’t you have work to be doing?”

“That we do,” John agreed, signing his name on a register before bidding Beth goodbye and leading Cody towards the lift; they were both fit young men but climbing ten sets of stairs every day got pretty damned tedious pretty fast, especially if they wanted you to go off chasing after the bad guys during the day too.

People barely glanced up as they passed despite the floor seeming quite busy and Cody had to admit he was rather glad that they didn’t warrant enough notice; it made his job all the harder the more attention he had focused upon him… especially when many of those people were sceptics. Blocking out one level of disbelief could be achieved but when that number became greater it became much harder.

Opening his office door for Cody he ushered the younger man inside before following.

His desk was covered in papers that he was pretty sure he’d cleaned up the night before but apparently not, and he flushed slightly at the disarray the place had gotten into; when he got consumed in work he could forget everything that wasn’t related to his case, including things such as eating and cleaning up.

“Sorry it’s a state.”

“You should see my desk when I’m working towards a deadline.”

“I was wondering,” John mused, “Would you have written anything I’d read?”

For the first time the shyness in Cody’s face was replaced by an amused disbelief, “Somehow I don’t think I’d be writing your kind of thing, John.”

The response made him want to push further (he probably would have Googled Cody for some more information last night had he not been distracted as he had by Ted and learning about him and the communal past that he and Randy shared) but he knew that they really didn’t have the time for that sort of thing; maybe when they got lunch he could ask, but for now they really should be focusing on the case.

Glancing at his door momentarily John then exhaled and reached into the top drawer of his desk, the rolling sound as it revealed its contents to John seeming to echo around the office, Cody suddenly wondering if his breathing had suddenly grown as loud as he had thought it had.

The glasses looked so innocent, so unobtrusive… John wondered what Cody could possibly get out of them.

Ordinarily he would have been using gloves to handle the item but since the lab had already processed the glasses and found no other DNA or fingerprints other than those of the boy and his guardian, and those had been logged, it didn’t matter now.

“Here…” he handed them across to Cody who took them gingerly between his thumb and forefinger before laying them out across his opposite palm and then placing his other hand over it.

Silence passed without anything happening (though John found himself wondering just what he’d been expecting to happen) except for Cody bowing his head and closing his eyes. He was breathing slowly and deeply, and had it not been for the fact that John knew otherwise then he would have thought that the other man had suddenly fallen asleep.

“Cody—“he started lowly.

“Sh.”

Since Cody had barely moved John had suddenly found himself wondering whether the noise had come from someone else when he knew they were the only two in the room.

Somewhat surprised (and admittedly a touch miffed) John obediently fell quiet and watched.

When Cody continued to merely hold the glasses between his hands though without saying anything or making any other indication John felt his suspicions growing that perhaps all of the things he had heard about Cody were just fanciful acts that he had played on poor, desperate, unsuspecting people. In that moment he didn’t really consider the evidence he had seen that Cody had apparently discovered for the cases he’d worked on that proved he couldn’t possibly be a fake.

And then, just as John was considering the best way to tell Cody that perhaps this hadn’t been such a good idea, something happened.

Cody’s shoulders tensed and his face creased into an expression that would have been fearful most likely had his eyes been open, but as it was he looked like a child experiencing a particularly confusing and arduous nightmare. His breathing started to shallow and his hands jerked slightly, his right foot tapping a rapid rhythm on the ground to match his breathing for all of ten seconds.

Well, John thought dazedly as he watched, I had wondered where the theatrical nature of his work was.

“It was a woman.”

John almost fell out of his chair.

“Excuse me?”

Cody had a small amount of perspiration on his brow, his skin a little paler as he repeated, “He was picked up by a woman at first.”

That was news to John.

Scrabbling for his notepad and a pencil John immediately started to jot notes down.

“Why do you think it’s a woman?”

“Because the energy he left behind tells me he wasn’t frightened at first… So that either means he was very well acquainted with the man who took him, and since you said there’s no father in his life or mother to have boyfriends, that doesn’t leave many options, so my instinct tells me if there was no familiar man then there must have been a woman.”

The reasoning was plausible but John still didn’t find himself altogether convinced.

“And what else?”

Cody turned the glasses over between his fingers this time, looking at them steadily.

“He only got scared after, and started to struggle. That was why he lost the glasses. He wasn’t afraid of the lady, she seemed nice, and she’d promised him some sweets if he’d help her… but then the man showed up, and he got scared. And when he got scared he tried to run, but they stopped him.”

By the end Cody’s voice had grown so quiet that John struggled to hear it.

Pencil hesitating over the paper John then cleared his throat softly, “Is he… Dead?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I don’t feel that his energy has gained the undercurrent of residual energy yet, meaning from someone who has passed. As far as his energy connection is concerned he’s still alive…” but even as he said that John could sense some despondency there, as though he knew from experience that that necessarily meant very little.

“At least we’ve somewhere to start, and we still have hope,” John said firmly.

Standing up he then hesitated, “If I took you to where he was taken from… could you maybe try and, I don’t know,” he looked embarrassed but defiant, as though he expected that Cody might laugh at him for his suggestion and yet not caring, “Follow him?”

A darkly amused look crossed Cody’s face, “Like a psychic bloodhound?”

“If you can’t do it—”

“I didn’t say I couldn’t…” Cody sighed and started to stand up himself, delicately placing the child’s glasses down atop the evidence bag they had been held in and looked up again to meet John’s eyes, “I’m just telling you not to get your hopes up.”

~::~

“You’re smitten.”

“I am not.”

“Teddy,” Randy arched a brow at him and spread his hands magnanimously, “I’ve brought you a top meat-lover’s breakfast and all you’ve done is cut the sausage into teeny pieces when I know normally you would have devoured the damn thing before I’d even added milk and sugar to my coffee.”

A flush dusted Ted’s cheeks and he scowled embarrassedly, “Way to make me sound like a—“he cut off and arched a brow, “Milk and sugar?”

This time Randy was the one to begin looking defensive, “I always have sugar.”

“I don’t remember you having milk though.”

Glancing away Randy muttered something about John saying something about too much straight black coffee being bad for a person’s stomach and Ted grinned before sobering slightly once more. Seeing the change that had come over his friend Randy rolled his eyes slightly.

“Look, I know you don’t trust that the kid’s legit but that doesn’t mean you can’t fancy him or anything… He may be a pretty stand-up guy otherwise.”

Snorting quietly Ted murmured, “Yeah, a real stand-up guy… bar the trying to cash in to a tragic situation.”

Arching a brow Randy returned, “He doesn’t want money so far.”

Shrugging Ted responded, “Or a case of desperate need to help and attention…”

It had occurred to him that he was probably being unaccountably harsh towards this unknown man but he couldn’t help it; he had met so many people over time who had claimed to be able to do what he could do, and half of them deserved locking up for lengthy sentences not only for giving out false information and hope to grieving families (as was often the case) but for making light of a situation that had forced Ted’s life onto a path that he was pretty damn sure he would never even thought about briefly had he had other options.

How could they act like they possessed an ability that would effectively ruin any chance they had at a normal life? If they knew ever a fraction of what it was like to possess such a ‘gift’ then he was pretty damned sure all of the phonies in the world would hang up their gaudy robes and drop the mystical accents without looking back immediately.

“You get real sensitive about this kind of thing don’t you?”

At the black look that was levelled his way Randy held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, “I’m just saying… I’ve never seen you get like that over anyone before, guy or girl; you looked as though things suddenly made sense to you,” a notion that had been quickly dispelled when he realised that Ted didn’t understand anymore about himself, or this newcomer, than he had to start with.

“How can you say I just like this person? I don’t even know his full name!”

“Love can be spontaneous you know,” Randy said with surprising sincerity.

Surprise flittered across Ted’s face and then he looked more wanly amused than anything else, “I never thought I’d ever hear you of all people come out with something like that.”

“Yeah, that was kinda nimbyish wasn’t it? Sorry. It’s not entirely untrue anyway; you don’t always see everything that’s gonna happen to you. Sometimes something can come along and you won’t even realise it’s there until it smacks you in the face and takes your wallet.”

“Haha.”

“Oh come on, that was one pretty good; I had you thinking I was getting all philosophical and everything!”

“How does John put up with you?”

“I’m awesome in bed.”

“I knew there had to be something,” Ted returned with a reluctant smile playing around his lips. No matter how determined he was to go all emo and get bogged down in depression there was something about being around a friend who knew everything about him, whom he didn’t have to hide from, that made him feel much more comfortable in his own skin.

“You wish you’d snapped me up first,” Randy joked and Ted snickered; it was a long-standing joke between them as they both knew that their parents had had words about whether anything had ever happened between them when they were younger, and they had come out. Not at the same time of course; Randy had gone through his woman phase and hadn’t come out until he was about 18, but Ted had come out about two years before him, as he’d been in the midst of an emotional crisis about it.

Despite the religious background in his family they had been surprisingly supportive once the shock had worn off… the only horrifying part of the tale now was that they kept mentioning ‘nice men’ that they thought he might like, or kept badgering to bring a ‘nice boy’ home for them to meet sometime soon. There was a part of Ted that was mortified in the general way a person was when their parents got involved in their love-lives, but another part of Ted was more infuriated that they thought he could manage to be ‘normal’ enough to manage such a feat.

Ironically someone with a ‘talent’ like himself would probably save him a lot of awkward conversations in the long run… However there wasn’t exactly a dating website for psychics.

Shaking himself somewhat Ted resumed eating his breakfast; it had grown somewhat cold though but still tasted good, filling the void that had been predominantly left over from him barely having more than a chocolate bar to snack on the day before due to his travelling. Randy seemed to follow suit and for a time silence descended between them.

Once they had finished and the bill was paid however they exited the diner and Randy turned to Ted.  
“So… How we go about seeing if you’re going to get anymore flashes?”

“If I knew how to make them happen don’t you think I’d do so immediately to get it over and done with?”

An incredulous look spread over Randy’s face, “I buy you breakfast, feed that unending pit you call a stomach, and you’re still in a bad mood?”

“I am not that much of a glutton.”

Playfully grabbing at Ted’s side, hidden underneath the man’s top and jacket, Randy smirked, “That’s not what the lovehandles say.”

Beacon red Ted swatted Randy away, arms wrapping around himself self-consciously; he’d always hated the fact that his penchant for sweet foods was visible on his body no matter how hard he worked in the gym to make it otherwise.

“Shut up.”

“Seriously Teddy… What do we do now?” Randy asked once the moment passed, his brow furrowing, “I know we’re cool with having you as long as you want but you always look so… ill,” that was the best way to describe his shadowed eyes and pale cheeks, “—when you’re trying to figure this shit out. If we could hurry it along it’d be better for you… Why don’t you stay here for a while after? I mean actually get somewhere and settle down.”

Ted sighed, knowing Randy only meant well and wasn’t being deliberately ignorant or anything, “Believe me,” he glanced out at the bustling hubbub of the city, a tragically forlorn figure who had seen far too much in his young life, “If I could I would.”

~::~

Bringing the car up to a halt besides your typical city park John addressed Cody, “It was right in here, by the slide near the kiddies part of the park.”

Pausing midway through opening the passenger side door Cody asked, “I thought all parks were for kids?”

John looked a touch amused, “I meant like little kiddies, you know, the kinds who usually get brought here in pairs and groups and have someone there to keep an eye on them.”

Was that a little jibe towards the guardian for the little boy being here alone? If the child-snatchers were as desperate as Cody assumed then it probably wouldn’t matter all that much whether there had been an adult there or not.

Exhaling Cody finished getting out of the car and closed his door behind him, John doing the same on the opposite side before they started heading through the front gates (which John had to open) and then towards the part of the park the boy had vanished from.

“I take it they’ve closed the park a while?”

“We did crime scene and everything on the first day and they said we could re-open it but… a few residents admitted to us that they would prefer the gates to be locked for a while. I guess it’s to put fear of God into the kids…” he sighed, “I don’t agree with exposing children to this kind of world but I suppose when they’re pretty much confronted with it anyway and they do need to know, then there’s nothing that you can do about it.”

“I don’t suppose you have kids, do you?” Cody asked without any humour.

John stumbled, “Wha? Me? But I’m—“he started automatically and then caught himself before the words, ‘But I’m gay,’ actually met the air because what would him being gay in the grand scheme of things mean when it came to kids? They could have adopted, or he could have had a girlfriend in his past whom had become pregnant, or he and Randy could have engaged a surrogate’s services. “No,” he finally said, “I don’t have kids. I have five brothers though so you can imagine the number of nieces and nephews I have.”

“I don’t envy your Christmas shopping,” a genuine, if brief, smile touched Cody’s lips before his expression turned closed like it had back in John’s office.

“Can you sense anything?”

“I understand scepticism Detective, but I would appreciate it more if you could hold onto it until I’m out of the way to hear it?”

Automatically John made to protest that he hadn’t meant in that way but even as he did he knew that there was a part of him that was still struggling to believe that Cody was the real deal even though what he had told him in the office had certainly been a damned good start to build on with what they had already suspected.

If there was an accomplice then that meant when they finally caught them they would have extra leverage to use against the main perp. And John would bet his bottom dollar (as the old song went) that the woman who was with the guy was most likely either as twisted as he was (and would therefore roll over to save her own skin) or otherwise another victim who had no choice in the matter.

“Sorry.”

“It’s OK, just… I’m not like a psychic sniffer-dog,” Cody mumbled, “I can’t just feel out of everything… I told you that it had to have significance right? He probably only maybe came here a handful of times alongside other children,” as he spoke Cody was walking around by the playground equipment, eyes on the ground as though he was looking for something without really looking, “—there’s a really good chance that because of that I won’t be able to pull his signature out of the melee even if I wanted—“Cody stopped talking so abruptly his teeth clicked together, eyes focused off to some trees some distance away from the playground equipment.

For all he said he wasn’t like a sniffer-dog John could certainly imagine Cody with the appropriate ears standing up to attention and the tail sticking out as he pointed.

Moving up next to him John murmured, “Cody?” when the other didn’t move a muscle for a good minute or two, not even blinking, which wasn’t easy.

“They took him this way.”

John frowned but followed Cody as he started to walk, his mind already running through a thousand and one different theories as to why they may have taken this way, and conversely why they couldn’t have taken this way.

It was too public.

Most parents probably wouldn’t think much of a woman in the park, especially if the child seemed at ease with her.

There’s nothing back there except for the boundary fence, why would they risk the child panicking on them somewhere where he was likely to be--

“I think they went through there,” Cody glanced over his shoulder at John as he pointed towards what appeared to be a bended hole in the fence that led onto a back-road that had no houses on it in any immediate vicinity that John could see. This part on the other side of the fence looked almost as though it belonged in a different zone of reality; there were nothing but houses, shops and cars on the other side lining the streets and neighbourhoods.

“Do you know if they took him in a vehicle?”

“From the tone you’re using I’d deduce you already have a theory even without asking me.”

“Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t appreciate a second opinion.”

Sighing, Cody nodded and then indicated down to the east of the road, “From here I can trace his signature up to the road turning right and I can follow it down for a while but then… it stops. I’d guess they had the car parked further up the road to avoid being seen through these thinner trees, and they came and got the kid before taking him down to it and driving off. I’m sorry John,” he really did look apologetic, “But there’s nothing more I can do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I can’t trace him anymore. Once he no longer has direct contact with the floor or something else then the signature lingers but it won’t tell me where it’s gone now.”

A crushing sensation settled in the pit of John’s stomach; Cody had been doing pretty damned well, it was a shame that he couldn’t have kept going.

“It’s fine Cody… I really appreciate all of your help so far.”

“So far?” Cody looked confused as they walked back towards the car, “If I’ve done all I can here what more do you need me for?”

Overheard the sky was darkening warningly, rain threatened imminently.

“Maybe one of the other children can tell you something else through their items.”

~::~

Ted never came to a new town with much of a plan. On the occasions he got more than a vague idea of where to go it was easier, sometimes he knew the name of the town or even the street in the same way that he knew he had two legs, completely undeniable. Those times he would go to where he was supposed to be and maybe look around, get a feel for the neighbourhood, see if there was anything he could pick up on. And when he saw someone he tended to take out his phone so that he didn't unduly concern anyone that might be watching him talk to himself. 

And then there were times like this, when he sort-of knew where he was supposed to be but couldn't narrow it down. Those times he tended to go on a lot of walks, seeing if he could see anything or if his inner compass would lead him one way or another. Sometimes he put headphones in and listened to music or an audiobook, but mostly he just listened to the street, lulling himself so that his feet just took him where they wanted. It wasn't as easy as that with Randy with him. Although Randy let him lead the way, they were talking between themselves so much that Ted wasn't sure whether or not he was making any headway in finding why he was in Missouri. He wasn't getting the restless, uneasy feeling that he did when he misjudged where he was supposed to be but he didn't have the same feeling of being led as he often did. He considered telling Randy that he needed to be alone, then changed his mind. He didn't get any time to himself at all, not in the way that most people considered their due and so what if he wanted to catch up with an old friend?

He didn't know the area at all, although Randy did and he wasn't too worried about getting lost; he just walked without thinking too much about it, talking over a few things with Randy. They were reminiscing about a few things, mostly steering clear of the times since their friendship had started when Ted's gift had shown itself. It hadn't happened often, as Ted himself often said there weren't many people who met their ends at the hand of others and fewer still who lingered for any reason at all. Crimes were solved without the intervention of the dead more often than not and there weren't many who needed to say anything once their lives had ended. But that didn't mean it had never happened and there were a handful of times after the first that Randy had witnessed Ted talking to the dead. He sometimes wondered if he was the only person who Ted felt comfortable using his gift in front of... if it could be called a gift. Randy was sure he would not like to be able to do the same things that Ted could without losing his mind. 

“Brett's been talking about getting married,” Ted told Randy as they walked, smiling a little as he mentioned his brother. “I'm hoping that I'll be able to get there if they ever set a date – he hasn't gone that far yet, but you know what he's like. He likes the idea but whether or not he'll get around to doing it when there's nothing wrong with where they're at is another matter.”

“You're just hoping to be there?”

“I might be called away,” said Ted wistfully. “I couldn't go to my own wedding if the call was strong enough.”

Randy shook his head, not understanding how what Ted felt could stop him from doing whatever he wanted to. “Surely the dead can wait. And anyway, talking about your own wedding. Have you met anyone on your travels? Even dated someone a couple of times?”

“I hardly stay in one place long enough to make it worth it,” replied Ted dryly. 

“I'm not talking about a love connection,” Randy shot back. “Just hung out with someone, gone on a couple of dates, got laid. It doesn't have to be the start of a life together, just something fun for once.”

Ted didn't reply and Randy sighed. “Oh boy Ted, you really need to put yourself first for once. Chasing around, it's noble and everything but you don't do anything for yourself. You don't have to sacrifice everything because you see dead people. No wonder you reacted so strongly to the psychic.”

“I didn't--”

“Sure you did, not that you were the only one. I thought he was about to offer to read your palm and then pronounce himself your soul mate. Actually, that's not the worst idea in the world. Maybe you should act on that while you're here.”

“Huh?”

Randy got a wicked glint in his eye. “Why not? He's here on business, so are you. You can maybe get together, get a little closer and you both know it's not going anywhere since you won't be here long and so you don't have to worry about making things last. You both know there's a time limit, you can have a little fun and head on your separate ways.”

“I think that's a very bad idea.”

“Why, because you might end up having some fun for once?” Randy smirked a little when he saw how uneasy Ted was and decided to change the subject. At least the idea was out there. “What's Mike up to?”

Ted shrugged. Randy knew, although Ted had never said so explicitly, that things weren't so good between the two of them. Mike had always found Ted's gift embarrassing more than anything else and although he had never said so outright, Randy knew that Mike wasn't convinced that Ted talked to the dead at all. He had no way of explaining how Ted knew things he couldn't know, or why he would make up something that would cause Ted's life to be so difficult but their relationship was strained because of it. Randy had the idea that it hurt Ted that his brother would cast doubt on him, essentially calling him a liar when it was something that he had no control over. 

“He's fine,” said Ted in the end. “Working, making money. Last I heard, he and the wife were thinking of having another kid.”

“You don't talk to him much?”

“Well, I mail him sometimes and he usually comes back to me with the news as well. And if I manage to get home at Christmas, then he's there as well.”

“And when was the last time you made it home for Christmas?”

“Year before last.” Ted grinned suddenly. “My dad got me a new backpack and an e-reader. He's a mindreader.”

“That's where you get it from then.” Randy glanced around as Ted chuckled, checking out where they were. It wasn't a part of town he knew very well, they were in a more suburban area that he had no reason to ever visit. The buildings looked like they belonged to the lower-middle class, relatively well maintained but nothing fancy. There were the suggestions of children in several, a swing in the front yard or a temporarily abandoned toy of some kind. One in particular made him smile, the garage at the side of the house was open, revealing a 250 motorcycle that seemed to have more of the parts on the floor than in the machine, a radio on the floor beside it. He'd spent much of his own teenage spare time trying to doctor his own bike to be faster and more powerful, an experiment that ended in dismal failure. 

In spite of the calm streets, the apparent normality, there was something about them being here that made him uneasy. He wasn't sure if it was because Ted had led them there, apparently without even thinking about it, or if there was some lingering unease about John working on the missing kids case with the hot psychic that was coming back to him with all the signs of kids living in the area. Whatever it was, he decided it might be an idea to divert Ted to a new route, somewhere they could distract themselves with shops at least. Whatever had led Ted to the state, he thought it was about time it gave the man a break. Ted had been relentlessly moving from place to place for too long and it was clearly wearing on him; it was about time he got some time off. Maybe he'd try to show Ted the night life. Perhaps they could take Cody along for the ride, since Ted had an obvious reaction to him. 

“You feel like a sightseeing tour?” he asked casually. “I mean, we're in Nowheresville here. You should really let me show you something a bit more interesting than other peoples houses. No offence Teddy, but this is not exactly the high point of a trip. Luckily, as a local, I know all the good places.”

“It's okay,” replied Ted, almost dreamily. “If we go 'round this corner, we'll be pointing back toward the main hub.”

“We will?” Randy thought Ted might actually be right, it was the right direction if nothing else, but he didn't know how Ted would know. But then again... there had been that time when Ted was fourteen and randomly wandered off from the rest of them when their families had been eating lunch together. Randy had offered to go after him, since he hadn't replied to shouts and he was in danger of going out of sight. In hindsight Randy thought the DiBiase's had known why he was going and they seemed to trust him not to judge Ted harshly because of it. Ted had apparently told them that he believed that Ted could do what he said he could. He had followed Ted several streets until he found him on a corner, where up ahead were a sea of flashing blue lights, cops and paramedics. Ted was leaning against a wall, deep in conversation. Even though there was no one else there. 

“I just got here, I don't know,” Ted was saying earnestly. “What happened?”

He listened for a few minutes, then nodded. “I can go see,” he'd said and then headed off to the activity, Randy rolling his eyes and going after him. “I wish that you people would give him some peace sometimes,” he'd snapped at the approximate area of air Ted had been talking to and then wondered if he was losing his mind as well. As it turned out he hadn't had to stop Ted doing anything crazy; he stopped at the police tape and stared at the scene. Randy had no idea what part he was eyeing but it was enough to turn his stomach. There was a figure beneath a blanket that was quite clearly dead, a few cops milling around, an ambulance waiting for permission to take the body and go. There was no life to be saved here, wasn't Ted talking to a ghost proof enough of that?

“Teddy, what--”

“Hush.” Ted cocked his head and Randy was quiet, although he wished that he knew what exactly they were supposed to be looking for. After a few minutes a cop walked close to them, talking into his radio. 

“...Caught three blocks south,” said the voice on the radio. “Went straight to the pawn shop with what he got, the owner heard something was happening and contacted us.”

“Charge him with murder one,” said the cop into the radio. “This girl's not going anywhere but the morgue...” He trailed off and stared at Ted and Randy angrily. “You kids, don't you have better things to do? This isn't some show, this is a damned crime scene!”

Randy took Ted's arm and tried to pull him away, but Ted resisted. “Cathy's really glad you caught the guy so fast,” he said gravely and then allowed Randy to lead him away, the cop frowning after them. Randy had an idea that he was thinking about questioning them further and made sure they didn't hang around. But Ted stopped at the same corner. “They got him. I think your jewellery will be back to your family as well, they said he was trying to sell it.”

Randy remembered that day all too well, the first time he had tried to talk to a dead person and of course, he had heard and seen exactly nothing. But he'd had a rather creepy sensation, possibly because he knew they hadn't been alone and it was the same feeling he got sometimes when a landscape that should have been ordinary seemed for some reason completely alien. And Ted's behaviour that day had been strange in the moments before and during his leaving the group; he heard them calling to him but Randy thought he would have brushed off any attempt to return. There had been something guiding him and he had the bad feeling that something similar was happening now. 

They turned the corner and Randy saw a school at the far end of the road they were now walking on. On the other side of the road were a couple of fields that looked like they were used as play areas, a skate park – he wasn't sure how well-used it was with the smaller children just over the road, it would be no place to go if one were thinking about skipping lessons. Ted headed for it and Randy's heart sank a little. He had hoped beyond hope that this time, there would be no reason for Ted to have been called here other than a chance for a break. A little peace after all the dead people he had brought closure to and the constant disruption of his own life. 

Doesn't he deserve just a little peace? He thought to himself as he followed Ted in silence, realising that anything he said now would be like a voice on a radio, unimportant and ignorable. Isn't there someone else that can take over for a while, leave Ted to live his own life?

He had no idea, but whatever higher power had allowed Ted to see the dead wasn't doing the man any favours at all and he cursed within the confines of his head. Ted was a good friend of his, his best friend even though they went for long periods without seeing one another. Ted should be having his own life, a career, a house, a lover. Not spending all his time talking to the dead. Hell, half the time Ted didn't seem to know how to talk to the living. 

Ted walked into the skateboard park, seeing it empty apart from one kid sitting on a grassy mound that seemed to be something of a resting point for the kids not using the facilities. She didn't belong there, that much he saw right away. She was too young to be up to tricks on a quarter-pipe, she didn't have a skateboard with her in any case. He could accept that she might have been there watching someone but there was nobody there to watch. 

She looked over at him and his shoulders slumped a little. The kid wasn't there out of choice. The kid was dead. And if he had to pick the absolute worst thing about the gift he had, it was the rare occasions when he saw a child. It was rare, but it had happened and it always broke his heart a little. Even the best one he had seen, the one who had asked him to give a message to his parents that he wasn't in pain any more and didn't blame them, had devastated him. He'd done as he was asked, finding out that the child had died of a serious illness... or so he was told. He knew better. After that little incident he had gone out and gotten pissing-down-his-leg drunk and had to spend two days in bed puking up his own stomach lining. And it still never got better. 

Randy was somewhere behind him but he barely even registered on Ted's radar. Instead he went over to the mound and sat down, the kid shuffling up to make room as if he particularly needed it. If people didn't see the dead it made sense that they would be able to walk right through them... but Ted had never gotten the nerve to make the experiment. Up close he could see that the kid was perhaps seven, a rather solemn-looking girl with her hair tied into an indifferent ponytail, jeans with a small rip in one knee, a slightly grubby shirt featuring My Little Pony. The shirt was bright yellow and such a little-kid thing to wear that it made the whole situation somehow worse. 

“Hi,” he said casually. 

“Hi,” she said, tugging at the threads in the hole at her knee. “I didn't think you'd ever turn up.”

“Me in particular?”

“Well no,” she said, giving him a rather odd look. “I don't know who you are. Someone who knows I'm here, I mean.”

“Right,” replied Ted with a smile. “My name's Ted. What's yours?”

“Dazzle,” she said defiantly. Ted doubted it somehow, but if she wanted to be called Dazzle then why not make her happy? There wasn't much else going for her right now. 

“Dazzle,” he repeated. “Why are you here in the skate park?”

“I like it here,” she returned. “When I grow up, I'm gonna be a skateboarder too. I'm gonna do all the tricks that the big boys do and I won't fall off all the time like they do.” She smirked. “One boy, he got a scrape on his arm and he cried. I get scrapes all the time and I never cry like that.”

“I bet you don't.” 

Dazzle sighed. “I wish they was here more though. It's so boring waiting for them and when there's school, they don't come 'til later on. And when it rains, sometimes they don't come at all.”

“I guess that must be boring,” said Ted. “You don't ever leave the skate park?”

Dazzle shook her head. “I tried, I really did, but it was like, like a big circle. I walked out of the gate over there and just walked back in through the gate over there. It made my head hurt, so in the end I stopped. My dad's been looking for me, but he doesn't see me and I yelled, I said that word he grounded me when he heard me saying and he didn't hear.” She looked at Ted curiously. “You hear me though.”

“I suppose I do.” Ted was almost certain that the girl knew what her condition was but he didn't see the harm in a little self-denial. She was dead and stuck, it seemed cruel to emphasise the point. “When you could leave the skate park, you remember that?”

She regarded him with some scorn. “Of course!”

Ted nodded. “So, what's the last time you remember being here when you didn't have to be? Did you come with your dad?”

“Nope.” The girl pointed. “I go to school over there. And I live with my dad, over there--” She pointed to the street they had just walked down. “I'm supposed to go straight home, but... daddy works at night and sometimes he's still sleeping when I get home. I'm supposed to go wake him up and then he has coffee and he makes dinner and we play something. Dad likes board games because he can sit down, but we play catch and things when I ask real nice and I'm being good. Only sometimes when there's someone skating, I stop and watch. Only for a minute, but I'm gonna be a skater when I'm big and I need to learn. So sometimes I watch for a while before I go wake daddy up.”

“Okay,” said Ted, although he was wondering about the wisdom of a child that young being allowed to walk even such a short distance alone. He supposed that when school let out there were a lot of people around and someone to cross the children over the road and it wasn't far, but even so it seemed like a big ask from a child for the sake of an extra twenty minutes sleep. Then again, who was he to judge? The kid hadn't mentioned a mother and it was hard work trying to earn enough money to keep a family going alone. Perhaps it made all the difference and clearly it had worked out well enough. Right up until something had gone badly wrong. 

“So what happened the last time?”

“There was a boy skating,” said Dazzle. “He was good. Not as good as I'm gonna be, but good. I was watching him and sitting here and then a lady came over and watched him with me.”

“A lady?” 

“Uh-huh. She said he was good too. Then she talked to me a bit. Then I was thirsty so she said I could have some of her drink. It was lemonade but I was real thirsty and I drank it anyway. And then I felt tired and kinda sick and the lady said she'd take me right home. The boy who was skating, he came over and asked if I was feeling okay and the lady said she was my mommy. She wasn't but I couldn't tell him. And then I was back here, so maybe she found out she couldn't take me out and left me here.”

Ted digested this in silence.

“Mister Ted?” The girl looked at him, slightly mistrustful but with wide eyes. “Could you tell my dad I'm here? He's not got anyone else except me and he'll be scared I've not come home.” She drew her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. “I don't like to think he might be scared. He might cry and I don't like that either. I didn't mean to stop here so long, I didn't mean it at all. I don't mind if he's mad but I don't want him to be scared.”

Ted didn't quite know what to say. “Honey...”

Dazzle sighed. “I know what you're gonna say. I know you can't tell him. I know what I'm doing stuck here. I saw it on a movie. Beetlejuice. When you're stuck in one place, there's a reason you can't leave it. I haven't seen any monsters yet and shouting his name three times didn't work either. He'd probably be more scared if you told him I was here. But you could make sure he's doing okay, right?”

“That I can do.”

“And you'll come back and tell me?”

“I promise.” Ted smiled a little, hoping that he sounded more reassuring than he felt. He had no idea what the kids name even was really, or how long she'd been there. It could have been decades, although mentioning the skateboarders suggested it hadn't been that long. He wasn't sure he'd have anything positive to say, but he would try. He always did. “The lady, the one who gave you the drink? What did she look like?”

“Pretty,” said Dazzle immediately. “She had brown hair and she was wearing jeans, only black.”

“Do you remember anything else about her?”

“Um...” Dazzle screwed up her face, trying to recall. “She had sunglasses, only pushed into her hair. And a red shirt and black jacket.”

“That's good,” replied Ted, although that could describe a whole lot of people and in any case, she might have changed her hair colour or even been wearing a wig. As far as descriptions went, it was pretty much useless. “Did you know her?”

“No. I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers but she was just there and watching the boy. Like me. And she was nice.”

“I know honey.”

“Your friend doesn't like me.”

“Huh?” Ted looked up to where Randy was standing, looking unhappy and slightly angry. Ted had an idea that Randy thought the dead he saw were somehow an imposition on him and that Ted should tell them to piss off. Sadly it didn't work like that. “He'd like you plenty, only he doesn't hear you so he doesn't know if he should like you or not.”

Dazzle looked interested. “So he can just see you, sitting here talking to yourself?”

“Yup,” confirmed Ted. “He thinks I'm cuckoo.” He made a gesture to emphasise the point and Dazzle giggled. Randy had obviously overheard and shook his head, a slight smile on his face that Ted thought was probably forced. 

“There's someone coming!” Dazzle stood up, craning her head and shading her eyes although there was no sun. “With a skateboard. Good! 'Bout time! I've been waiting forever.”

“Then I'd better go,” Ted told her, standing up as well and stretching. “Or else they'll think I'm cuckoo as well.”

Dazzle nodded, slightly distracted. “I'll be fine. I've got something to do now.” She suddenly turned to Ted, looking worried. “You will find my dad?”

“I'll try.”

She paused. “My real name's Katie,” she said quickly. “Only don't call me that, I don't like it. Only if my dad's looking for me then you need to be able to find him, right?”

“That'll make it easier,” replied Ted. “Thanks, Dazzle.”

“See you real soon Ted.” Dazzle's attention returned to the boy approaching the quarter-pipe and wondered if it was the same one she had been watching that day. Probably not, or she would have said so. A look at Randy's face told him he'd pushed his luck for long enough and he went back over to his friend, sparing a look as the kid did a few tricks on his board before leading Randy out of the park. 

“Perhaps we really ought to head back to the town,” he said as soon as they were clear. 

Randy nodded, but he didn't look too happy. “Who was it this time, calling you a thousand miles to spill their story?”

“I don't think anyone calls me on purpose,” Ted told him absently. “But it was a kid. Katie, only she asked me to call her Dazzle. Seven maybe, perhaps eight but she struck me as being younger and tall for her age.”

Randy frowned. There was nothing much one could say about a small child who had met an untimely death that didn't come off sounding heartless, but he really wished that the dead would just go on to whatever awaited them and leave justice to the living. It was them who needed it after all. Worse, it was ringing a bell and he didn't want to examine just why. 

“She doesn't remember being anywhere but the skate park,” said Ted with a frown. “Maybe she died there, but if she was she doesn't remember it. She thinks she's dead but doesn't remember dying. That's not usual.”

“And if a dead kid was found in a park, then we'd have heard about it, even if it was a few years ago. It's not a good place to hide a body where it can't be found either. Maybe she's there for another reason. You've said before, people don't necessarily linger where they die.”

“No, they don't. It's not often that I find one that's not compelled to stay in one place though. I mean, when I saw Peter in the back of the van...” Ted shot Randy a slightly apologetic glance, he knew Randy didn't much like to think about that day. “He was in the same place, but the place moved. But people tend to uh, go to somewhere they have an emotional attachment to. Often it's the place they remember dying in, but sometimes it's where an attack happened... or where they were taken from. The last thing she remembers of being alive is being there. She doesn't remember being killed.”

“She was taken from there?”

“Yeah. A woman did it, but she didn't really describe her too well. Could be pretty much anyone.”

“Right.” Randy checked his watch. “It's gone lunchtime and I think you need a drink. And I think that I need to call John.”

“Why?”

Randy sighed. “It's not that I don't take an interest in his cases, but I'm not always up on the details, if you know what I mean. Some stuff he can't share with me anyway, confidential. Sometimes there's too much to remember. I didn't put the pieces together 'til now, but one of the kids he's been looking for, she was on her way home from school, last seen going past a skate park. I didn't make the connection right away but while you were talking...” He shook his head. 

Ted shoved his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor. “If he has a picture, I can tell you for sure. Not that it's admissible as evidence, you understand.”

“I know. But maybe this is what brought you here.” Randy rested a hand on Ted's shoulder. “It looks like you've ended up in the middle of John's investigation.”

“And he's got two psychics on the case.” Ted laughed without amusement. “Let the circus begin.”


	4. Chapter Three: An Awkward Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John tries to meld together Cody and Ted's respective updates on the case, and Cody finds himself (sadly) clashing with the handsome Florida native. However, maybe the situation isn't completely lost.

The sudden sound of the phone on John’s desk ringing startled Cody to the degree where he dropped the cheery, cartoon-embossed lunchbox that John had given to him. A little girl’s, he had said, only child and with no mother, only a father who busted his ass on three jobs to take care of her. Man was blaming himself, John had said, he’d never considered it would be dangerous to let her go it alone, what with school being so close and all, and he just needed the extra bit of sleep…

“Sorry,” John looked apologetic, answering the phone, “Cena.” When his brows rose Cody wondered who could be calling him; he couldn’t imagine that the in-house phones of police-men were easily accessible to just anybody. “You know I’m always pleased to hear from you, you just rarely ring me unless you know I’m on lunch and you don’t ring me on this number ever.”

Given the affection in his tone Cody surmised that it had to be his boyfriend, Randy.

“What? Are you serious?” the way John bolted upright in his chair almost caused Cody to drop the lunchbox again, “Can you get him to come in? Oh for--- yeah, Ok. No, actually, I think a break could do us good—“Cody’s head lifted then, cocking in puzzlement at the inclusive term; was John referring to him too? “We can meet you at Bryan’s place for lunch if you like? Yeah, Ok, you too, see you soon.”

When John put the phone down Cody started to stand, “I’ll be seeing you after lunch then?” although he didn’t know what more he could do; despite it seeming like he didn’t expend energy or effort doing what he did that wasn’t true, it tired him out immensely after a time, and this was the third child’s item he’d been asked to work on in an hour.

A surprised look crossed John’s face, “I thought you’d be coming to eat with us.”

A shiver ran through him at the thought of seeing the blonde again, but almost immediately he reflected on the strangeness of the tension between them outside of the undetermined awareness between them and immediately thought that that would probably be a bad idea. And since the blonde (Ted, he thought he recalled his name being) seemed to be a legitimate friend who was staying with them Cody didn’t feel right intruding. Besides--- he was pretty good at recognising people who had obviously heard of what he did and thought he was a complete phony even so.

“I appreciate the offer but I’d feel like I’m getting in the way.”

John suddenly looked uncomfortable though Cody couldn’t say why; he wouldn’t take offence is John agreed, actually he was pretty much expecting that he would do so. John fiddled with his blue shirt collar a moment and then said, “Well, actually, it’s related to the case.”

“Oh…” Cody said, still none the wiser, “Surely it wouldn’t matter too much if I didn’t come right? I mean, the less I know probably the better…” even as the words left his mouth he was aware of how redundant they were since he had already learnt a good deal more about this case then he would have ever liked to know.

“Actually… I think maybe hearing might help. Or you could help him fill in the blanks.”

“Him?”

“Ah,” again there was that weird look on John’s face, the man rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “There’s a few things I didn’t mention to you… nothing sinister,” he hastened to assure when Cody looked uneasy, “But just… things that I didn’t know about to talk about and that I’m not entirely sure even now that I should be talking about.”

Blinking slowly Cody smiled ruefully, “I think I got that.”

John looked sheepish, “Please just… will you come? If you think there’s nothing you can do or it gets too weird—“Cody couldn’t help but snort; he was the definition of weird, “Then you can leave no problem and we can pick up here again tomorrow if that would be OK?”

“Well, I’m not exactly in a hurry to get back,” Cody admitted, scratching his cheek slightly, “But I don’t see what more I can help you with.” They didn’t have that much physical evidence and some of the things he had been confronted with hadn’t enough of an actual connection to the child in question to give him anything, which was disappointing and also embarrassing; he was sure people just thought it confirmed him a fake because he couldn’t pick and choose what he felt or how much he felt.

“You’ve been a great help so far,” and he sounded so sincere that Cody was taken aback, “And I’d appreciate if you’d help me out some more.”

“I… Well, if you insist,” he flustered slightly, not having been expecting someone as impassioned as John Cena when he had first arrived.

Certainly he’d dealt with emotional cops before, those ones who poured everything they had into the case and suffered when defeat was forced upon them on occasion, but John… there was something different about him. Even being stood next to him… his signature was like sunlight, not overpowering, but noticeable, comfortable, Cody had felt it when he had picked up the watch that John had removed and laid on his desk, it being knocked off when John had been going through papers. He was a good man, of that much Cody was certain.

“Thanks,” John said emphatically, clapping Cody on the shoulder heartily. Cody wondered if his shoulders would ever return to equal level afterwards. “It’ll be my treat of course, lunch, I mean, you’re already spending a good deal of money on my account as it is.”

“If you insist,” Cody said, though there was a somewhat rueful expression on his face once more, “But it’s not as though one meal is going to force me destitute.”

“You don’t find it easy to accept favours do you?”

The abrupt question as they were leaving the office almost made Cody trip over his own feet but he managed to catch himself before he did an embarrassing face-plant before the rest of the station. A flush covered his cheeks and he ducked his head, almost looking like a chastised little boy. Something about the sudden defeated air around Cody made John want to hug him, like he would hug his younger brothers when they had been kids and had been upset about something. Yet, as soon as it crossed his mind to apologise, to assure Cody that he really had only been kidding, the air was gone as quickly as it had come and his posture straightened out, a smile on his face once more.

“You’re right, I do… I’d appreciate lunch thank you.”

“N-No problem,” John murmured a little numbly, surprised by the change as he followed Cody out of the station. It wasn’t until they were approaching Bryan’s that John realised that Cody had the same emotional fluctuations as Ted did.

Being gifted must really fuck you up emotionally.

~::~ 

“Randy!” Ted hissed into his friend’s ear as he noticed who was walking beside John when the unmistakable figure crossed past the front windows of the restaurant, “Why is he here?” Ted didn’t make a habit of telling his ability to passing strangers after all, and he sure as hell had never been confronted by someone with a supposedly similar gift. What if the other had turned out to be a fake and he tried to steal tips from Ted? Or what if he accused Ted of being the fake? It seemed unlikely given the feeling Ted had gotten from him when they had been introduced earlier, but what did he know?

He had seen enough to know that things, and people, weren’t always as they seemed in life.

“Just calm down will you?” Randy rubbed underneath his ear, grimacing, “It’s not like you need to explain how you know. For all he knows you could just have been told something by John and you’re just reaffirming it for him.”

“Like he’s really gonna buy that,” Ted grumped.

“You’re such a ray of sunshine when you’re hungry.”

Ted flushed, “It is not because I’m hungry!”

Randy didn’t look convinced and Ted couldn’t resist kicking him underneath the table even though it was entirely too juvenile for men of their age.

“Ow!” there was a thud that rattled the fresh cutlery on their table as Randy’s knee connected with it as his leg reflexively jerked away from the sensation of being kicked, the man grinding his teeth as he bent down to rub his shin just as John and Cody approached the table.

John arched a brow, “Rand, what’re you doing?”

“Plotting a horrible way to murder Ted and make sure you never find the body.”

Ted rolled his eyes but a small smirk curled his lips in triumph.

John sighed and indicated that Cody sit down (ending up sitting on the side of the booth next to Ted since Randy was John’s boyfriend and all) before then sitting down himself, “What have I told you about plotting murders inside state lines babe? At least do it in another jurisdiction so I don’t get pulled into it. I’d hate to have to put your ass in prison for life.”

“I’m sure you’d come visit me though wouldn’t you?” he did a puppy dog look.

“Of course I would,” John said lightly, “But I doubt they’d let us have that many of those type of visits.”

Cody looked between the two, clearly having no idea what he was supposed to say. However, when the waitress brought over their menus and asked for their drink orders he was mercifully saved having to make any attempt to join in the situation.

Once they had all ordered the waitress headed off again to put their menus back and then returned with their drink orders.

“Seems like a nice place,” Cody commented, more for lack of the silence stretching, increasing the feeling that there was something he was missing, something important, that was building deep in his gut. A feeling that he trusted wholeheartedly because it had yet to steer him wrong.

“We come here a lot,” Randy at least seemed to be making an attempt to be kind of friendly, which could be said for more than most people he’d come across, even from the families he’d helped until he’d done something that had proved he was the real deal… and then their tones sure changed in a hurry, “The prices are good and the food’s top-notch,” he snickered, “Considering this place is run by a vegan it’s hardly surprising.”

“A vegan runs this place?” Ted wrinkled his nose; he wasn’t one to judge people but he had never understood the likes of vegetarians or vegans: he loved his meat way too much to give it up.

“Tell me about it,” Randy nodded, seeing the look on his friend’s face.

“Now, now, be nice,” John chided, “You can be so mean to Daniel sometimes.”

“It’s not as if he isn’t asking for it half of the time…”

“Be that as it may, be nice because he may spit in your food if he overhears you.”

Arching a brow Randy said, “If he spits in my food then I’m going to pull each strand of that stupid goat beard out one by one and then I’m going to stand on his head and make him even shorter.”

“His wife probably wouldn’t be able to see him anymore if you did that. Literally,” John chuckled, thinking of the woman the short man was married to. They had moved into town together about a year ago, the young woman’s twin sister relocating to the area afterwards when her own relationship turned rocky. She had started working in the restaurant too, and was quite popular with the men in town.

She had even hit on Randy and John respectively over time, even when she found out they were seeing one another… that had been the most bizarre request for a threesome that John had ever heard, though Randy had seemed at one point as though he was considering it, if only for a moment.

“Ah well… I’m sure she wouldn’t be single long.”

“Randy!”

“What? It’s true.”

“Still—”

“Uh, guys?” Ted arched a brow, finally attracting the pair’s attention. John looked contrite but Randy being Randy looked decidedly unapologetic.

“Sorry,” John said and then sighed, reaching into his jacket.

Pulling an envelope out he set it down on the table before Ted, a look that was most assuredly torn appearing on his face; as far as Cody could tell he looked as though he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be told he was right, or whether he wanted to be told that it was wrong. Which made Cody wonder what he was expecting to be told.

When an image of a little girl in a My Little Pony t-shirt was pulled from within the envelope it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who she must be, but that still didn’t clear up for Cody why Ted would be the one that John was asking. Hadn’t they called him a consultant or something? Honestly, Cody couldn’t remember. Rubbing his forehead he sighed mentally and lamented the fact that he was going to be overdosing on painkillers before the night was through the way he always had to when he used his ability for a good deal of time.

Taking a look at the image Ted sighed, face looking decidedly pained a moment before he pushed the photo back into the envelope—Cody noticed that he took care not to crease it any more than was necessary though.

“That was her.”

The smiles that had been playing around John and Randy’s lips throughout their banter died out like a light-bulb on its last legs at that announcement and Cody wondered once again, what was really happening before him. The girl was clearly a victim of the same people who were taking the kids he had been told about but their response made no sense; they obviously knew about her or they wouldn’t have had her picture, but the way they had suddenly seemed so downcast…

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Cody started lightly, drawing the attention of the other three men, “But what about her?”

The sudden almost mockingly smug look that flashed over Ted’s face briefly as he looked at Randy made Cody’s hackles rise for a reason he couldn’t explain; he just had the feeling that the look was being directed at him.

“I realise she’s obviously,” he lowered his voice tactfully but didn’t lose the somewhat icy undercurrent that had suddenly appeared, “a victim, but what about her. She’s one you know about obviously, but what does he mean.” His brow furrowed and he addressed Ted this time, “Have you found her body or something?” again he was careful to mind his volume; there were quite a few people in the restaurant and there was a lot of chatter, but you never knew when someone might overhear you… and they would certainly create a bad atmosphere being overheard talking about dead children.

Upon Cody’s question Ted shot a sudden look at John who looked both confused and defensive, “I was told not to go mouthing off about what you do and I didn’t. I didn’t know if you’d want me to tell.”

“I don’t ever really like telling,” Ted muttered.

“But in present circumstances maybe it would help,” Randy intoned, sending a warning look at him.

“With all due respect,” Cody turned to John then, feeling his temper mounting, “I didn’t fly all the way out here to be treated like a dickhead, so if someone would be kind enough to fill me in on this little secret then I would be much obliged.”

If anything that seemed to make Ted more defensive, but when John looked back to him for reference the blonde merely looked out of the window after nodding once, sharply, barely noticeably.

Randy was the one who finally broke the silence, “Ted sees dead people.”

Now, Cody hadn’t been expecting that, the look on his face as he turned to look at the back of the sulking blonde’s head said so.

“Like Sixth Sense see dead people?”

“Is that a universal reference or something?” Ted muttered; most people, even the dead ones who he found, no matter how old they were or what decade they were from, seemed to make exactly the same reference.

“I’m just trying to make sure I have the right idea,” Cody actually sounded a little hurt and Ted felt unaccountably bothered by this fact.

“Yeah, that’s about the sum of it.”

Cody then turned his attention to Randy, “You knew about him?”

“Yeah, obviously…” Randy’s brow furrowed, obviously not getting why Cody suddenly seemed angry.

His face was surprisingly smooth though as he turned to John, tone not accusatory but definitely unimpressed, “And here I was thinking you didn’t believe in people with gifts.”

John looked embarrassed, “Actually, I only met Ted in person yesterday… and found out about his talents yesterday.”

“Talent? Really John?”

“Don’t do that… You sound like that TV presenter.”

“The one who always calls himself awesome?”

“That’s the one.”

“Man he’s irritating.”

“Don’t envy Riley shouldering that boulder—”

“GUYS!” Ted cut in once more, just in time to almost give their waitress a heart-attack as she arrived with their plates. His face went crimson and he stammered an apology, the girl giggling and batting her lashes flirtatiously as she assured him that it was more than OK and it could have happened to anyone.

As the waitress leant over essentially in front of Cody (not that she didn’t lean over in front of all of them in the end, much more than was strictly needed to pass their food to them) Randy was interested to note that Cody didn’t so much as glance at her cleavage, merely reaching for his napkin and spreading it open atop his lap. Clearly this boy had been to a lot of sit down meals in his time.

“Can we talk about this when we’ve eaten?” Ted then requested, suddenly seeming a lot more tired and much less confrontational. The weariness, the shadows deep in his eyes made sense now, Cody thought, as did the way he seemed to carry himself as though the weight of the world currently rested atop his shoulders.

When Ted looked up and caught his eye Cody flushed, cleared his throat softly and looked away.

John missed the exchange, but Randy didn’t, his lover too busy agreeing that they should eat, have a break, and then they could get back to it afterwards.

~::~

“What did she tell you?”

Instead of returning back to the department (John had radioed in and told Beth that he was checking on some leads and she had told him she’d handle any calls and suchlike that came in for him) they headed back to Cody’s hotel room. He had offered them the use of it because he felt that Randy probably got sick of John bringing work back home with him most of the time, without having the adage of two psychics input being put into it. Their surprise wasn’t easily masked but Cody didn’t taken offence; they had probably suspected that he would distance himself from everything, which was, usually what he would do.

This case would hardly be considered his most conventional though.

Ted sighed and hesitated a moment as he wondered where he could sit; Cody’s room was a nice little double, a chair at the customary vanity desk but otherwise that just left the bed.

His heart gave a strange little skip as he imagined the svelte, bronzed body the other man possessed surrounded by the surprisingly white sheets; he probably looked a vision… and just what the fuck was he thinking? Not only was in inappropriate considering the circumstances but he didn’t know anything about Cody past his apparent psychic abilities; he wasn’t in the habit of imagining random strangers naked.

“Shouldn’t we start from the beginning?” Randy asked, apparently not having the same qualms that Ted did about where he should sit.

“What do you mean?” Randy was asked his boyfriend, who seemed more content to remain standing.

“We didn’t just set out and find her, we were… well, we were walking first.”

“Alright, start from the beginning then.”

Cody found himself sitting down on the desk chair and so Ted ended up pacing back and forth; sitting down just made him feel strangely claustrophobic, something he was aware made no sense whatsoever.

He told John (and Cody) about following his instincts to the park, and seeing the little girl there. He told him about her saying she always walked home by herself, home and to school, that her dad would have worried but she couldn’t help but linger that one day because she had been watching a boy skateboard. When he mentioned the lady with the lemonade John’s head snapped around to Cody, causing Ted to pause in his tale momentarily.

The other man fidgeted slightly, as though he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the somewhat awed look John was now giving between the pair of them.

“What?” Randy asked impatiently; usually John was the one telling him off for interruptions, so it had to be something pretty big for him to be the one causing the pause.

“You said there was a woman,” John murmured, addressing Cody and then looking back to Randy and Ted, “This morning, Cody said he sensed a woman was the one who approached the children. We… We’d never found any evidence to suggest it, though obviously we can’t rule it out, but now you said that Katie told you a woman… She didn’t mention a guy as well did she?” an almost excited light appeared in John’s eyes and Randy knew the adrenaline was starting to go for his lover. Although getting emotionally invested was what made John a good policeman he sometimes got concerned about him; each setback seemed to break John’s heart a little each time.

“No,” Ted responded, staring at Cody slightly as he responded, Cody avoiding his eyes, everyone’s eyes in fact, “She just said that she had some lemonade and then she doesn’t really remember anything. She can’t leave the skatepark either… but I can’t tell if that’s because her assailants are still on the loose or because she’s worried about her dad… since her dad was what she seemed most focused on I’d say it was that…”

“Do you know how to help her rest?” Cody asked quietly.

Ted blinked, realising then that Cody was looking back at him. For some reason he felt himself blushing, shrugging awkwardly.

“I promised her I’d check in on her dad and tell him not to be upset anymore… that’s about all I can do. I promised her.”

John seemed to lose his zeal for a second, “Ted, you know I can’t have you telling her dad that kind of thing…”

“I know that John,” Ted sighed, “But if I could just see him…”

“Why don’t you pretend to be a therapist or something?” Cody suggested absently, “You could say he’s brought in to see people who’re suffering through loss. That way anything Ted says will seem like a specialist’s help techniques. But that’d probably affect police protocol so you can forget I just mentioned it.”

“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea though,” Randy admitted, “If worse comes to worse.”

~::~

“I don't think I can let you see him before we find her, or some trace of her,” said John softly. “Otherwise, it might end up with him demanding to know how you know – and I'm sure our association would be exposed. That could damage my involvement with the case.”

“Then I hope it's solved soon,” said Ted. “Because the waiting would be killing me. Not knowing if there was hope or not, that would be the hardest part.”

There was silence for a moment. Randy decided a change of subject was probably in order; Ted was starting to look more and more distressed that he couldn't do what he was supposed to, even if he did understand the reasons why. The trouble was he couldn't think of a change of subject and in any case, they were supposed to be discussing what they had found out. If he changed the subject every time someone got upset, they'd never end up finishing a conversation. “Cody, what did you find? John said that you'd seen a woman.”

Cody nodded, looking over at Ted a moment. The man was trying very hard not to look interested in what he had to say and he wondered for a moment what the deal was with the way he acted. It was as if he really didn't believe that anyone could be psychic and yet he was sensitive so his lack of belief didn't make much sense. 

He recapped what he had gotten from the glasses the young boy had left behind, quickly and as emotionlessly as possible. John already knew it and didn't react, while Randy's frown deepened with every new detail. And Ted looked rather incredulous. 

“That backs up exactly what the girl told you,” Randy said to Ted once Cody had finished his story. “We know for sure we're on the right track and that they were connected.”

“Katie never said anything about a man,” Ted pointed out. “And if the kid was taken and his glasses got lost later on, how do you explain them being found back at the park?”

“We never released the details about us having them,” John interjected. “It's probable that someone walking in the area found them, picked them up and put them somewhere obvious and out of harms way for when the kid noticed them missing. People do that kind of thing. And maybe they didn't realise when they saw the papers that they'd got relevant information, it's not as if hundreds of kids don't wear glasses after all.”

Cody raised his eyebrows. “I'm not usually surprised by scepticism but I am a little surprised to hear it from you.” 

Ted leaned against the wall, folding his arms. “Why? In my experience, the majority of people who claim they're psychic aren't. There's those that claim they are and some that believe they are, but I've never met anyone who really is. Certainly no one who claims to get information from objects.”

“You don't think that people leave behind residual energy? And you see dead people?”

“I know that people leave behind something – some people do at least. But on rings and glasses and old coins? I don't buy that. The dead stick to places, they don't attach themselves to lamps like something from an Amityville film.”

“Ted,” muttered Randy warningly. They didn't need to antagonise the man when he had gone out of his way to help and had already been useful. He didn't understand the source of Ted's disbelief himself. It was obvious that Ted had some kind of attraction to the young psychic, so why sabotage himself like this? Then again, Ted was very good at keeping most people well and truly at arms reach. Randy considered himself Ted's best friend and even he didn't see or hear as much from the man as he would have expected. 

Cody raised a hand to silence Randy. “I don't sense the energy of the dead exclusively. I think that the boy I sensed is alive, if not well. And people don't leave traces on everything they touch like a fingerprint. Just because I work differently to you doesn't mean that I'm any less attuned. We even knew some of the same things.”

“That could just be reasonable assumption. Kids are more likely to trust a woman and go with them than they are a man.”

Cody fetched a deep sigh. “It looks like we're both involved in this so the last thing I want is for us to be bickering and you to be doubting. Give me your watch.”

Ted looked slightly thrown. “Excuse me?”

“Your watch. It looks expensive, like it has some sentimental value – I'll bet there's a tan line beneath. I might be able to pick up something about you I shouldn't know from it and then maybe you'll accept that you're not the only person with a gift in the room.”

Ted didn't look convinced. “Why that, why not something else? Why not, I don't know, my phone or my damned boxers?”

“I'd rather you didn't take off your boxers right now,” lied Cody, amused when Ted lost the slightly aggressive stance and looked embarrassed instead. “And I've never been able to pick up anything from phones, don't ask me why. I sometimes think it's the electronics but really, I think it's because while a phone's important to the user, it's just a phone, easily replaced, nothing really special. I tend to work best with things that are in contact with people more, like jewellery or clothes...” He grinned wickedly. “I've never tried with boxers, admittedly.”

Without a word, Ted unfastened his watch and tossed it lightly at Cody, the other man catching it. He was well aware that John and Randy were both smirking and he wasn't sure he liked being teased. The only people who ever tried it were his family and Randy and none of them tended to tease him about his abilities, although Randy had been known to push it occasionally. Cody caught the watch with ease, wrapping his fingers around it and frowning. For long moments there was nothing and Ted was smugly sure that Cody wasn't going to be able to tell him anything at all that couldn't be ascertained through simple guesswork. And then Cody looked suddenly rather startled and Ted felt a sudden shock going through him, similar to when they had shaken hands if not quite so strong. Cody's eyes met his and without even another word, Ted believed him. Something about that look dispelled all doubts and that it didn't make sense didn't matter. He believed that Cody was able to do exactly what he said he could. 

“You don't leave much of a trail, Ted,” said Cody rather distantly, but there was a smile curved onto his face. Not a smug smile, as if he was pleased to have one-up on the other, more as if something had made him happy. “Distance. Travel. You're tired a lot of the time but apart from that I can't get much about you at all. But there's... someone else. Someone who did leave more behind. Mikey.”

Ted's eyes narrowed a little but he didn't say anything. Neither did Randy or John, watching the scene carefully. 

“Mikey kept taking the watch out of the box and looking at it. He was worried that it wouldn't be right and he wanted to get just the right present. But what do you buy someone who spends his life on the road and lives out of a backpack? A new backpack isn't going to cut it and anyway, he wants something nice. Really nice. Things are awkward and he'd like something that his little brother can keep with him all the time, something he can look at and remember Mikey. Something practical but maybe a touch extravagant. Something little brother can look at and maybe occasionally think that Mikey isn't always such a dick after all. It's not like they don't talk but Mikey used to have trouble connecting with his brother. He still does. And he wants to buy something that says no matter what, he loves the kid even if he's never gonna understand him.”

Ted had gone pale and Cody paused. “Mikey's your brother? He looks quite a bit like you.”

“Mike,” said Ted, reaching out for his watch. “No one's called him Mikey since he was twelve. He hates it.”

“So you did it to bug him?”

Ted almost smiled. “Maybe once or twice.”

“Hey, I've got siblings, I know how this works.” Cody handed the watch back. “Uh, convinced?”

“Let's just say less sceptical. Mike did get me the watch as it happens. And we've not always been close. It's not such a stretch to think you could have found out about my family online and made a very lucky guess, or to think we might have issues over my abilities. Then again, it's a lot of lucky guesses and I'm willing to believe that you know something until I have conclusive evidence against it. Or until the coincidences pile up too high for me to write off.”

“That's as good as I can hope for I guess,” said Cody, but Randy thought he saw something like hurt in his eyes. It occurred to him that maybe Ted wanted Cody to turn out to be a fake. Because if he was a fake then he would be an object of contempt, while if he was the real thing – well, then Ted would not only have to accept that maybe someone else went through the same experiences that he did, but that whatever attraction he had to the dark-haired young man might actually be justified. And Ted didn't let himself get that close to people, not any more. 

Maybe he would take Cody aside when he had the chance and explain how things were for Ted, how he allowed himself to be driven by his gift while Cody seemed able to retain something akin to normality. That Ted had always been isolated, first by rumour and then by choice, and he didn't quite know how to relate. 

Or maybe he'd keep his mouth shut and let Ted sort out his own life. Not that he'd been doing such a great job, in Randy's humble opinion. He really didn't understand how Ted could be driven the way he was. 

“Cody tried his hand with some other items,” said John as Ted fastened his watch around his wrist again. “No luck though, at least not in the way that we did with the glasses. He got enough that we're starting to think there was no grooming going on with anyone and they weren't lured out. These were crimes of opportunity... except for the part about their mothers not being on the scene. That's too much coincidence for me. It might not be unheard of, but it's not common either. And Ted says that Katie is dead, but Cody says there's no reason to believe that the others are...” He shook his head in frustration. 

“Maybe this woman wants her own kids,” said Randy. “And she sees them as being motherless and needing her as much as she needs them.”

“But there's a man involved as well. And if that's the case, then why did Katie end up dead?”

“I think it might have been an accident,” said Ted unexpectedly. “Dazzle – Katie, I mean – knew nothing after feeling ill after the drink. So maybe there was something else that went wrong. Maybe she overdosed, or had an allergic reaction, or maybe she choked on her own puke while they were taking her from one place to another. It didn't strike me as being a deliberate act from what she said, I didn't get that feeling of pain and struggle from her that's usually there.”

“But someone else caused her death,” Randy pointed out. “Because you only ever see people who are killed by someone else's hand.”

Cody turned to look at Ted, surprise and perhaps a greater understanding on his face. Ted ignored the look, nodding. “I've never seen anyone who just died...” He chuckled, without sounding very amused. “Maybe there's someone else that can do that. Or maybe those people have no reason to linger.”

“Can I ask?” John watched Ted carefully. “The case you were working on with Dwayne, what was it?”

Ted shrugged. “Well, you can look most of it up in the papers now, though you won't find my name in there anywhere. Thank god. I asked Dwayne to keep my name out of it but I think he would have done anyway. He did not like that I was involved. I got called down there... I kinda just know where I need to be next. They had a serial killer, young women in their late teens, early twenties. They were keeping it on the down-low but that only seemed to rile the guy up. He'd find somewhere to hide, wait for someone that fit his MO to turn up alone and then shoot. He had a silencer and he didn't do anything else to them but he tended to leave a mark on the body so they knew it was the same person. I didn't know any of that when I went down there of course. I just showed up and heh, I got a bit more than I did when I came here. I got off the bus and took a local bus until I got to a place that seemed right and after a little bit of a wander, I met a victim. She was not pleased, she wanted to make sure no one else ended up dead. Carly, her name was. She told me about some weird guy she'd seen hanging around the area and how he'd been back once or twice since, just to stand where she died and smirk. He gave her a bad vibe. So I looked up some other similar incidents and went to those places. I only got one other victim and her request was that I removed his balls with a paring knife. But she confirmed what Carly said, that the same man went back and gloated, she'd seen him in the neighbourhood before. So I went to Dwayne with what I knew and a couple of other things so he knew I wasn't just making it up – stuff about them that wasn't common knowledge and a couple of other details. Dwayne locked me up. He assumed that I had something to do with it, but I had plenty of proof that I wasn't even in town when the deaths happened. And word from the cops he checked up on me with about what I could do, there was that too. They had a suspect who fitted the description I gave and when I told them about him going back to the crime scenes, we managed to work out the day he did and Dwayne lay in wait. They had some DNA they could match to him and voila, guy's in jail. And I'm free to go.”

Randy cocked his head. “How many times have you been locked up?”

“More times than I care to remember,” Ted admitted with a smile. “I've never actually been arrested though, that's something. And I'm kinda used to it. If you're well behaved, you get coffee and meals, though they do tend to leave you to stew while they check your alibi.”

John kept his eyes on Ted. “Is it always that simple?”

“Hell, it wasn't that simple then. They had no reason to detain the guy, they ended up getting a sample of his DNA from a coffee cup he threw in the bin in front of them. Hell, even getting Dwayne to listen wasn't that easy, it never is. You have to know something that no one else does and that just makes you look guilty.” He shrugged. “But it's the way it always goes. I'm used to it.”

Cody frowned. “There must be some better way to get people to listen to you, one that doesn't involve you getting thrown in jail.”

Ted smiled at him genially. “If you think about it, please let me know. Because I'd really prefer to avoid it whenever possible.”


	5. Chapter Four: Replacing Doors Is Expensive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody shares a tale regarding his work, Ted experiences an uncomfortable dream before he and Cody test the waters with each other a little more.

Cody almost laughed but then didn’t, instead offering a weak smile before then turning his attention back to John and Randy. In truth he didn’t know why he was so bothered about Ted apparently not liking him and thinking he was a fraud. He was well-used to people being sceptical and considering him a phony, and you couldn’t make everyone like you… but this bothered him. Especially when… Well, especially when it seemed as though they might have been making some sort of progress with one another in that little moment of connection.

Apparently though he misunderstood the moment as it happened.

Had they not been in his hotel room then he would probably have made his excuses and left, but as it was he couldn’t and so he would have to wait it out and see what the others said or did before they left. Something told him that Randy may eventually drag John off from work to go home to relax together. For a moment he almost thought that he wouldn’t envy Randy having to deal with John bringing often harrowing cases home… but didn’t he do the same? Only there was no one waiting at home for him, to talk things through and make them seem better if only for a time…

Sometimes it was enough to make a person feel depressed.

As he sat thinking to himself Cody was completely unaware of the fact that Ted was watching him out of the corner of his eye, a look that still was mildly suspicious and yet oddly awed lingering on his face. John was oblivious to this as he had then taken the moment to engage Cody in conversation once more, but Randy was becoming more and more convinced that Ted felt something for his fellow psychic other than an irrational sense of dislike.

“Do you think you could try again tomorrow Cody?”

An apologetic look crossed Cody’s face, “I can’t promise anything new will come up, John; I already got as much as I could from the items you’ve given me today, and even if some time passes I’m not likely to get anything new… I suppose you could say unless they interact with it again freshly then I’m not likely going to get anything other than what I’ve already told you.”

A slightly disappointed look crossed John’s face before he seemed to catch himself, “OK then,” he then looked a little reluctant as he said, “In case anything else happens, or something new comes up… would you mind sticking around for a few days?”

“Certainly; I have no need to rush back home.”

Randy couldn’t help but see the opening for what it was and asked, “Oh? So, you don’t have some little girlfriend waiting for you back home?” he paused a beat and added, “Or boyfriend,” as though it had only just occurred to him that that could be the case.

No offence to Cody though but it seemed kind of obvious he was gay; he had manicured fingernails for one, and on the vanity table across the room there were several kinds of moisturiser and skin-care products. Flaming homo territory if ever he’d seen it, but of course Randy wasn’t judging the younger man at all; how could he when he himself had been in a committed relationship with another man for drawing close to three years now?

For a moment Cody looked slightly bored and wanly aware, as though he was used to being questioned like this and hadn’t grown to appreciate it the more it had happened, “No,” he finally said, “I don’t have a girlfriend, or boyfriend, waiting at home for me—“Randy doubted that even Ted realised that he’d perked up somewhat at that admittance but it had happened, and internally he was feeling rather smug even if John was currently giving him the warning look that said he was in for a severe talk when they got home, “—and I told John I’m able to work from anywhere as long as I have my laptop and access to the internet.”

“You’re working on a new book?” John asked with what appeared to be genuine interest.

At first Cody seemed startled (as though unused to receiving attention for his profession) and then he offered a slightly wan smile, “Yes. I’ve had a case of writer’s block recently though so with any luck the change of scenery I’ve gained from helping you will do me some good too.”

“What kind of books do you write?” Ted found himself asking.

“Oh, this and that,” Cody said evasively, “Whatever my manager kind of directs me to really.”

“Your manager?” Randy asked.

“Yes, she’s called Layla… Lovely woman but very formidable. God forbid I miss a deadline,” he chuckled slightly and Ted felt a small prickle of irrational jealousy that Cody spoke about this woman with clear fondness, “I was ill once,” Cody continued, unaware of Ted’s internal turmoil, “I mean, so ill I couldn’t even get out of bed to answer the phone, barely able to get to the bathroom as needed, so she came over with a policeman and broke my door in.”

“You’re kidding?” John gasped, eyes wide.

“Nope,” Cody looked amused, though his eyes said that he hadn’t found it exactly this funny when it had happened, “And when she found me barely conscious on the floor all she did was start shaking me, screaming and asking where my update for the manuscript was. The policeman pulled her off of me out of fear for my safety in the end, and I had to go to hospital. Turns out I had acute exhaustion or something, and a touch of pneumonia so it was pretty lucky she’d visited like she had.”

“What about your parents?”

“They live back in Georgia.”

“Siblings?” Ted pressed again, recalling Cody had mentioned having them. What? He couldn’t help but think it was odd that Cody’s manager would have been the only one to call in to check on him if people hadn’t been able to reach him for a time.

“They also live out of state. My brother’s really busy in his cross-dressing cabaret show since they’re on tour at the moment and my sister Teil’s just had a baby so she could hardly just up sticks and come stay with me for a while.”

“So what happened after that?” Randy asked, slightly amused by the idea of this woman breaking in and all but assaulting the author before him when he was in a clearly ill state.

“I gave her a raise and a spare key… getting doors replaced all of the time is expensive,” Cody responded without breaking into laughter even though John and Randy did. Even Ted’s lips twitched slightly though otherwise he remained quiet.

Once they had calmed John checked his watch and then exhaled, “I’d best get back to the station and see what else I can do before my shift ends…” he didn’t look convinced that he was going to be spending much time off-shift before he was called back and Cody wondered if he expected that another child was going to be taken soon. Since they had no concrete assured motive of why they were being taken in the first place there was every chance that that could be true.

“I’ll walk you back,” Randy insisted even though John protested that he was a bid boy and could head back by himself.

“I may as well come with,” Ted said; it wasn’t as though he had an elsewhere to be, he was staying with the pair, and it wasn’t as though he could stay there with Cody.

“Alright!” John finally conceded when it was apparent that Randy wasn’t going to give in.

A small chuckle drew his attention to Cody and he felt his cheeks warm slightly as he took in the expression on Cody’s face. Even Randy looked a little confused and embarrassed for reasons he didn’t understand.

“What?” he asked a little suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing sinister,” Cody responded with a smile as he walked across to the door and opened it when it was clear that the other three men were ready to leave, “I was just thinking that you two make a very good couple, and that you’re very lucky to have one another. Some people can go their entire lives without experiencing what you have, so I hope you don’t ever take it for granted.”

On that note he added, “I’ll speak to you sometime in the morning then John, goodnight, Randy, Ted,” and then he closed the door on them.

For a bemused moment the trio remained in the hallway, not entirely sure about what had just happened.

“Wow,” Ted muttered, “Heavy much.”

“Tell me about it,” Randy added, still looking confused.

John sighed slightly and started leading the way back out of the hotel, “He’s not wrong though is he? Life’s too short to miss the chances for things like love.”

“Was it something they ate?” Ted muttered to Randy, who lightly nudged him in the ribs lest John heard.

~::~

That night Randy and John settled into bed together, John actually managing to get home off-shift, have something to eat and prepare for bed without some kind of interruption calling him back into work. Usually if he could get into bed without being called back then that was a good sign that he was going to get some kind of sleep before the morning… and God knew because of how many late nights and tireless hours he’d been pulling thanks to this case he needed some chance to recharge.

“Are you OK?”

“Hm?”

Randy dropped a kiss to John’s exposed shoulder, “I asked if you were OK. I know this has been rough on you…” he almost suggested that John pass of the case to someone else considering the emotional stress that it was causing him but recalling the argument that they had had the last time he’d suggested such a thing he managed to call it back. Of course it had crossed Randy’s mind that John could neither a) banish him to the couch or b) take the couch himself because he was mad at Randy, but Randy didn’t want to test the theory even so because he knew that sharing a bed with John when the other was mad at him would be excruciating to say the least.

“I’m getting there,” John murmured.

“Poor babe,” Randy murmured, starting to drop fleeting kisses down John’s neck now, stopping briefly to caress the sensitive skin of a mostly healed scar on his throat the same way. John had told him the accident had happened when he’d been younger, that he’d been doing something on the beat (as he always called it) back when he’d been a very, very junior officer, and some perp had panicked, misunderstood his rank (or perhaps just didn’t care) and came at him with what had later turned out to be a Stanley-knife. There had been a struggle and John had been cut with the knife, back-up arriving in time to help subdue the attacker and get John the necessary medical attention. Apparently, almost ironically, he had had a mark there originally anyway because he’d fallen from the garage roof when he’d been a boy and had needed surgery for a slipped-something-or-other. So, now although the mark was faded it was definitely more prominent than it had been.

“We’re supposed to be sleeping,” John murmured, breath catching slightly as one of Randy’s large hands ghosted over his chest and started to lightly pluck and pinch his nipple, the bud swelling almost immediately in response to the familiar touch.

“OK, you go to sleep and I’ll carry on…” his lips were now taking over where his hand had taken off and John had to bite his own lip to keep from making too much noise; they had a guest just in the other room, he had to remind himself fervently, it wasn’t just the prospect of awkwardly running into the neighbours this time. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to look Ted in the eye should he overhear them making love, especially when he’d long since figured out for himself that Ted seemed to keep anyone with whom he could have an intimate relationship with at a distance.

“How am I supposed to sleep when you’re doing ah! That?”

“I dunno… try, if you really want to sleep that badly.”

~::~

It may be their flat but Ted was going to politely request that they invest in some sound-proofing soon.

Pressing his head into the pillow Ted then buried his head underneath it and wished he’d thought to buy some new headphones since then he could listen to music and block out the sounds of the slow, rhythmic thumping that was coming from inside the master bedroom. Still, one thing mildly surprised Ted; he had never expected to hear Randy begging, let alone for someone else’s cock to be inside of him. Of course he was now wishing he hadn’t bothered getting up to go get a glass of water from the kitchen because if he hadn’t then he wouldn’t have heard those lowly rumbled words.

“Oh God, Randy!”

Ted could give them credit for attempting to be quiet, but he could still hear them… and the sounds of their passion were reminding him with the force of a sucker-punch to the gut just how long it had been since he’d had any kind of contact like that without his right hand… which was technically never, but the sentiment was the same.

Getting aroused to the sound of his best friend fucking his boyfriend was mortifying to Ted, and the jealousy he felt was confusing; he knew he wasn’t sexually attracted to either Randy or John (no offence to either, they were good looking guys) but the idea of indiscriminate sex with a stranger didn’t appeal to him either, which was technically what he could have done if he’d gone out and put himself out there in some club somewhere.

Eventually Ted’s mental gymnastics stopped and allowed him to fall asleep even with the sound of the thumping still happening in the background, and the blonde sank into sweet oblivious almost desperately; maybe tomorrow would be better, he thought just as he passed into darkness, maybe tomorrow he would get the final piece he needed to satisfy the reasons for his being there and then he could move on.

He could move on from Missouri… and from Cody.

Cody…

Oh, Ted, please---

Yes, yes---

Oh—oh—oh---!

“Ted!”

Bolting upright the blushing blond was confronted by the amused and slightly concerned face as his best friend, “Jeez man, what were you dreaming about? You were thrashing all over the place…” he placed a mug of freshly brewed coffee onto the coffee-table before him and then padded back towards where John stood in the kitchen, already dressed. Ted was glad the blanket was around his waist and downed some coffee to wake up more, even though he ended up burning his tongue in his haste.

~:~

What the hell had all that been about anyway? Sure he found Cody attractive but he found other people attractive in the past and it wasn't as if he went around having those kinds of dreams about them. He blamed Randy and John for being so damned loud about what they were doing. Sighing a little he blew on his coffee, trying to cool it down before he finished it off, taking a bite of his toast. Breakfast in bed, or couch at least, was rare. Having said which, on the rare occasions he managed to get home his mother spoiled him to death.

He had the sudden urge to text Mike and ask him if he was okay and what he was up to – thanks to Cody and what he had seen the previous night. His logical mind was still trying to find the simple explanation; his family were all over the internet even if he refrained from any kind of social media himself and probably Cody could find his brother's names without trying too hard. Maybe he could even logically work out that his brother might have been called Mikey sometime in his past life and even that they might have an awkward relationship thanks to his gift. But although there was an inscription on the watch, Mike hadn't put his name on it. Randy might have answered a couple of questions about his past but Ted didn't think he'd had the chance, plus Randy was discreet and John probably didn't have the answers. Certainly not enough to know where the watch was from. John hadn't even noticed it and Ted wore it so often that it barely registered with him unless he was checking the time. He had a feeling he'd be thinking a lot more now when he looked at it – which apparently was what Mike had hoped for. Ted was a little ashamed to admit that although he loved the watch and had been delighted by it, he hadn't even considered that it might have been some kind of gesture from his brother. 

Those thoughts at least managed to kill the erection enough that he was able to get off the couch and bring the plates into the kitchen, although looking at John and Randy wasn't all that easy after what he had overheard. Still, eh tried not to show it, why shouldn't they fuck all they liked in their own house? And he'd always had the suspicion that Randy was highly sexed anyway, although Randy tended to hint at his conquests rather than go into any detail. 

“Can I use the shower?” he asked casually. 

“Go for it,” said Randy, taking a sip of his own drink as he leaned against the counter. “I'll make some more coffee for when you get out. I don't know what it is with you Ted, but you always look tired. Maybe we should get you an air bed.”

“Don't,” replied Ted quickly “The couch is fine, more than fine. Don't go spending money on me. If it comes to that I'll get a room, or buy the airbed.”

He headed off to the shower, unaware that John commented on his difficulty accepting anything from anyone, or Randy chuckling and agreeing. His mind was full of various things and weirdly, for once it wasn't the person who had brought him to the city. He was thinking of Cody. He believed Cody, he had done even before he had been shown what the other could do, but he had the rather doleful feeling that he wasn't going to be able to behave himself around the man, refrain from making bitchy little comments. It was just the way he was, the way he behaved with people around him. The exceptions were few and were pretty much his family and Randy – and he wondered how much of that was because he and Randy had known one another since they were kids, before a lifetime of ridicule and hostility had worn him down. He'd been at least a little hopeful of some understanding back then and Randy's acceptance seemed to have proven it was possible, even Randy getting angry at the dead showed that he cared enough about Ted to worry that he was being put upon too much. But of course there had been the kids that he and his brothers knew playing with them that same day he'd saved Randy and when he had gone back to school, it was all over. Everyone knew and everyone thought he was mentally challenged or just completely fucking weird. The same attitude followed him to this day and he'd come to expect it. The last thing he needed was to let his guard down around people, which had the effect that he couldn't let his guard down around anyone he didn't know well. John was slightly different, Ted trusted that Randy would be able to keep the worst of his disbelief from causing him to comment, but he certainly hadn't expected that there would be another psychic on the scene when he got there. 

He washed quickly, got out of the shower and dried off, cleaning up the bathroom and dressing in the clothes he'd brought in with him, expensive but worn jeans and a slightly crumpled t-shirt, it was next to impossible to keep things neat when he carried all his clothes on his back but he tried. He even added a dash of cologne, he wasn't sure why but maybe it had something to do with him being somewhere that felt homey, it was as if he could be bothered because he felt half-way normal for once. Didn't normal people sleep on their friends couches when they were in town for a few days,dress slightly nicer than if they were slobbing around at home with nothing to do? It was almost like being on holiday. It might have been more so if it hadn't been for the dead girl in the park, or the psychic sneaking into his dreams. 

When he walked back into the living room Randy gave him an approving look. “You'll do. You're going out for breakfast, so grab your shit and I'll give you the spare key for when you get back.”

“Huh?” For a moment Ted thought that they wanted some alone time but John was already dressed, hunting for his keys and humming to himself, while Randy was still parading around in next to nothing. Maybe it was some weird dress-up thing but Ted didn't think so. “I already had breakfast. Toast.”

“Toast is like, the breakfast equivalent of a starter,” said Randy dismissively. “You can't last off of that. There's a cafe not far from here where you can get the best breakfast ever.”

“And why aren't you going?”

“I'm going back to bed,” said Randy promptly. “John's going to work. And you've got some work to be doing.”

Ted shook his head, a little lost. 

“You're the one who found Katie after all. And our other psychic did some good work of his own. So you two should be discussing what else you might be able to find out, joining forces so that you can work out some more. John can do his cop thing and I can clear my mind with a little extra sleep.”

“Are you serious?” Ted scowled, not at all pleased with this turn of events. “For one thing, Cody might be working on the case with John, but I'm just here because I was drawn here--”

“By the same case,” Randy pointed out. “If that's what you're here to do, doesn't it make sense that you should take advantage of all the equipment at your disposal, Cody included?”

Ted refused to consider just how he'd like to take advantage of that particular tool. “And in any case, isn't it confidential or something?”

“I can hardly stop people discussing the case,” said John pleasantly, finally locating his keys in the fruit bowl. “Why are these things in here? I swear, they grow little legs at night and run off to play. There's no reason you can't talk about what you know, although I'd appreciate it if you told me if you find anything new, or any new angles I can work on.”

Ted wanted to argue some more, but realised he was stuck. If he refused to meet Cody, then it would look like he was being a brat and like Randy had said, he was there only because he had been called there. By Katie it looked like, and Cody was just another person who was a part of what was happening. 

It wasn't even that he didn't like Cody. He just didn't like the change that Cody being around meant. He wasn't used to working with psychics, or people who believed him without being raving lunatics or deeply suspicious even with proof. In fact, he thought he had only met one person in his whole career (for lack of a better word) that he genuinely disliked and that had been a victim, a real nasty bastard who'd been murdered spontaneously, it was a surprise that the killer wasn't already caught, or so Ted thought when he had heard what the dead man had to say. On several occasions the man had threatened to 'fuck him up' if he didn't drag the killer to that very spot and torture him however the dead man wanted. Ted had reminded the ghost in a rather bored tone that there wasn't a single thing he could do and no way was Ted going to kidnap, torture and murder just because he was told to. No amount of threats, pretend curses or cajoling with tales of buried treasure could change his mind. The man had been one of the rare dead people he simply ran into without having been pulled to a place to deal with them and there was nothing within him compelling him to help. He had simply walked away, ignoring the shouts of the dead man and it had been one of the few things that made him think that maybe what the preacher from his youth had said was true and people got what they deserved only when they died. That was a man who deserved to be powerless and unheard. 

Randy gave Ted the name of the cafe and hastily scribbled directions on how to get there. “Be nice Teddy,” he warned. “Cody's gonna be there in about fifteen minutes, so why don't you at least enjoy the meal and some company? And maybe you can share stories or something.”

The last thing Ted intended to do with Cody was share any stories that had any kind of significance but he shrugged, taking the spare key and giving Randy a last, hopeful look.   
“You're hungry as well, right? And you can't be that tired, why don't you join us?”

“Nah,” said Randy casually. “I'm fine for food and John kept me up all night long. I need the sleep.”  
John looked slightly embarrassed and Ted was sure his face was flaming, taking the keys, mumbling his goodbyes and almost bolting from the room. It was only when he got to the street and checked the directions that he realised that had probably been Randy's plan all along.

The cafe wasn't hard to find and although he stopped to buy a paper on the way, Cody was already there when he arrived. Ted paused outside the cafe to watch him; the man had a seat in the corner of the cafe and was visible from the spot near the door through the window. He was typing rapidly on a small, expensive looking laptop placed before him and Ted remembered he had said something about a deadline. It made Ted wish that he had some kind of talent that could make money while he was on the road, as Cody seemed to. At least he would be less dependant on his parents and his trust fund, or the menial jobs he sometimes took when he wanted to feel slightly more useful. 

He was taking too long just watching, probably attracting attention and he walked into the building, crossing over to where Cody was and taking a seat. Cody looked up and gave him a genuine, if rather guarded smile, doing something hurried on his computer before closing it up. “Morning.”

“Morning.” Ted took the seat opposite Cody and looked at him. The younger man looked less well rested than he had the day before and Ted wondered if he'd been up all night working on whatever it was he was writing. His manager sounded pretty formidable and Cody's voice had shown clear affection when he talked about her – maybe there was more there than Cody had admitted to and he didn't want to let her down. Not that it was any of Ted's business. And that pang in his stomach was nothing more than a hunger pain. Randy was right, toast was not a satisfying breakfast. 

A waitress approached and Ted ordered bottomless coffee, full English and an energy drink. Cody looked mildly puzzled by the two drinks but ordered the same and the waitress, a large woman who seemed old enough to be both their parents, gave them a motherly smile and bustled off. 

Cody traced a pattern on the table with a finger. “I don't know what John thinks we'll accomplish working together,” he said quietly. “Our MO's are completely different. But it's probably worth a try.”

Ted shrugged, noting that John had something to do with this – then again, Randy could be persuasive. Or maybe he really did think there was something they could do if they combined their gifts, like some kind of Mighty Morphin Psychic Ranger. Not that he was psychic, he reminded himself. “I think that's a long shot and I don't see how it could work, but hell, I'm willing to try it since I'm here.”

“Well...” Cody considered it. “I can see things from items and you spoke to a girl in the park. Maybe she can tell us if she left something behind.”

“Cops didn't find anything. Unless you could get a reading from where she was sat?”

“I shouldn't think so, that's not really how I work. And if I got a psychic jolt every time I touched something that a hundred other people touched before me, I'd never use any kind of public transport – hell, I'd never walk through a door. I'm willing to try, but it's never worked before.”

Ted nodded. “This was kinda sprung on me, I don't have any ideas.”

“Me too and me either.” Cody gave a one-shouldered shrug and a rather infectious smile. “Why don't we eat, think about something else and then we can come back to it? Maybe some time will give us some new direction to go in.”

Ted nodded, slightly relieved and then the waitress brought them their coffees and energy drinks, promising that the food would not be long. Ted tested the coffee, judged it too hot and popped open the energy drink instead. “Have you always been able to tell things from touching items, or did you find out by accident?”

Cody looked amused. “You decided you believe me then?”

Ted frowned, looking down at the table. “Does it matter? We're working together so I suppose I must.”

“Until I'm disproven. And there's a part of you that really believes I will be.”

“No.” Ted didn't look up. “Does it matter? Forget I asked.” 

Cody was silent for a moment – he couldn't work this man out at all. He supposed he knew why Ted worked so hard to keep everyone at bay but he hadn't quite known how to take what Cody had intended as a joke. He found it hard to relate that to having siblings, unless Ted's abilities had made it so that teasing was pretty much out of the question. Then again, Randy seemed to get away with it. 

“I found out when I was a kid,” he said, drinking a little of his drink. “No one really noticed, or if they did they just thought it was a bit strange. My mother liked jewellery, not pricey stuff but not gaudy crap either. I could touch pieces and tell her what she'd been doing the last time she wore them, sometimes where she was or if she was happy or not. There was one necklace I picked up once and then wouldn't touch ever again, it made me feel... miserable and angry and as if the whole world and everything I knew had been taken, leaving this – I dunno, this dark void. Turns out the last time she wore it was to her father's funeral. She tried to wear it after that so I'd get better feelings from it, but those thoughts didn't overtake the original ones and I hated even looking at it. It vanished one day and I've never seen it since. There were other things too, but I guess mostly they could be explained. There's no reason why maybe my mom wouldn't have told me about thing she liked to do and I guessed what she's been doing and decided what she was wearing at the time and she remembered because I suggested it to her... does that make sense, y'know what I mean?”

Ted nodded, remembering something some cop had told him about eyewitnesses and how suggestible they could be. They might swear up and down they'd seen something they hadn't because the suggestion had concreted the image in their minds. 

“But then there was other things. I can't do it all the time but it was often enough that my family began to wonder, although they wrote it off as a quirk. The first real sign that it wasn't just some strange mind-reading or something was when I was nine. I had a friend with an older sister who vanished one day, just went missing. Said she was going to a friends but they had no plans together, she never showed. There were clothes missing and the logic was that she'd run off. It was only later on that I found out there was a lot of mystery, she didn't seem too unhappy and there was no clue where she might have gone. I wasn't as clued up then as I am now about runaway teenagers and they tend to show up pretty quick – they leave traces like their phones, or else they show up when they get cold or hungry or sick to death of sleeping rough, or when whoever's putting them up gets sick of them. Hell, when they run off with someone, they tend to tell a friend and the friend gets worried and spills what they know. In this case, there was nothing at all.”

“You know a lot about it.”

“I tend to get asked about runaways a lot,” said Cody dryly. “I went to my friends house one day after school and we went into his sisters room for something, I can't even remember what. I was nosing around like kids do and he was saying something about her, how she wasn't going to be needing all the space so he didn't know why he didn't have the big room. I picked up one of those old-fashioned mirrors on a long handle from her dresser and I knew that she used it so she could check the back of her hair looked okay. And I said to him that she'd probably have come back except that she probably liked the guy she was meeting too much. He asked what guy and I said that she'd been talking to  
someone online and she was going to meet him, she was really excited because he was eighteen and drove a convertible. They were going to go on a drive that night and maybe they'd decided to go to Vegas and get married.” He grinned, but there wasn't much amusement in it. “Dumb kid. When we went down for sandwiches my friend asked his mother if what I said was true and whoa, you wouldn't believe how many questions I got. Or maybe you would. She asked me and then went on the girls laptop, then she called out some guy to go through the history and then she called the cops. And my mom. It turned out she'd been chatting on the net, some dating site for teenagers. She did meet someone and before she left, she dumped the memory and moved the site from her favourites list. Only she didn't log out as herself and they could see her when they accessed the site from the laptop. And who she was talking to. So they traced his IP and found her, with the guy she'd been meeting.” 

He reached for the coffee this time, judging it cool enough to drink and deciding he rather liked Ted's odd way of dealing with the thirst before the warm drink was ready to be sipped. “I don't know too much about it to be honest. I know she ended up back at home and my friend told me that the guy she met turned out to be thirty-five, not eighteen. I couldn't tell you why she stayed and if she was forced to, I didn't get to see much in the papers at that time. They moved away not long after that though and there was – something, some subtle way that people who knew I'd known about her started treating me differently. And that was the start.”

Ted hadn't taken his eyes from Cody the whole time and Cody was aware of the weight of his stare. “Do you always go after runaways?”

“Not always, I just happen to find that the people who want me to see what I can find are the ones who are missing. It's not like seeing the dead. In those cases, you must usually know where they ended up.”

Ted gave a single nod and Cody wondered if he'd pushed it too far. “So, tell me. When did you realise no one else saw people that you could see? And did your parents think it was a cute quirk until it got serious, the way mine did?”

Ted dropped his eyes again and Cody was pretty sure that he'd gone about it the wrong way, teasing Ted seemed to be a good way to make him clam up – but it worked for Randy and Cody didn't think anything else would work. He just had to keep chipping away. Ted was a handsome man, showing occasional flashes of humour and affection, tirelessly working to help people that weren't even alive any more. He intrigued Cody more than he wanted to let on. And it didn't hurt that whenever Ted looked at him he felt a thrill that was anything but innocent. 

Before Ted could give any kind of excuse, make something up or change the subject, the waitress arrived with the food and Cody resigned himself to not getting a real reply off of Ted – although he certainly didn't intend for that to be the case forever. Cody was nothing if not tenacious and Ted was an enigma he was determined to learn more about.


	6. Chapter Five: Not Exactly Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Cody both return to visit Dazzle, and Ted shares with Cody a rather crucial event where his 'gift' made itself known in the past. Randy also settles Ted's ire for meddling in his affairs.

It was strange as they sat together, because although they weren’t talking and there was a small undercurrent of awkwardness there, but then at the same time it was weirdly comfortable… it made no sense and Ted couldn’t put his finger on it. Cutting into his sausage and gathering a piece of it and some beans onto his fork he noticed with some amusement that Cody went for his bacon and mushrooms first. He didn’t know why, but something about Cody had made Ted think he’d be one of those types obsessed with his figure and who’d eat nothing but health foods.

It was oddly appealing to see him doing something so normal… and again he was sure his twisted thought process was coming from the dream he had had the night before. He was somewhat surprised that he had even managed to look him in the eyes really, because each time he did he found himself reflecting on the lust-blown eyes that had been gazing at him so openly and adoringly in his dreams the night before.

“Are you alright?” Cody asked concernedly when Ted suddenly started coughing opposite him.

“Y-Yeah—“Ted rasped, reaching for his now cooled coffee and downing some of it, “Just went down the wrong way.”

Fuck… why did everything seem like a double-entendre in his head now?

“Alright,” Cody nodded and then paused, picking up one of the napkins that had been set down with their cutlery and handing one across to Ted with a slight smile on his lips, “Um, you’ve got some sauce on your chin?” he offered by way of an explanation.

Mildly embarrassed Ted sheepishly accepted the napkin and wiped his mouth and chin, “Thanks,” he mumbled, looking down.

Cody’s slight smile fell and for a moment Ted swore he heard the man sigh sadly before he said, “It’s no problem,” and when he sent a brief glance upwards the ravenette didn’t seem in any way upset or bothered. He’d clearly been imagining it.

When they finished Cody insisted that he could pay for breakfast (something Ted mildly protested only because he didn’t like seeming like a moocher, though Cody then said John and Randy could reimburse them at a later date since it was their idea and he found himself relenting with some amusement) before then shouldering his little laptop bag and following Ted out of the café.

“Do you remember where you found her?”

“Yeah I think so…” Ted murmured. Worse came to worse he could just tap into the calling again and he’d get straight back to her before too long.

“Well, lead on…” Cody looked a little nervous and curious, something Ted couldn’t understand in a way. It wasn’t as though Cody was going to be able to see her, or interact with her. Still, Ted supposed it would be nice in a way not to have to explain himself as he sat there having a conversation with what appeared to be thin air.

Silence resumed between as they walked but neither man appeared ready to bridge the gap; the few times Cody tried initially Ted barely responded in more than monosyllables so he gave up before too long. That didn’t mean he’d given up on getting to know Ted more though; he just had to stand firm and prove that he wasn’t some wishy-washy fake that he should consider threatening for whatever reason. When they approached the skate-park Cody shivered slightly, a strange feeling washing over him, as though he’d just stepped from a warm shower into a cold hallway.

Noticing the react out of the corner of his eye Ted paused and arched a brow, “Something wrong?”

Rubbing a hand over his arm lightly Cody shook his head, “No,” he supposed he’d just caught a sudden breeze or something, because he didn’t usually get feelings just going into places. Well, not outside of the normal realms of common-sense emotions obviously; you didn’t need to be psychic to know that there were some places you just shouldn’t go.

“Right…” Ted said, some very mild concern and suspicion reflected in his eyes.

The look was like a kick in the gut and Cody had to work to keep from reacting to him, instead looking out around the skate-park. Since the weather was somewhat overcast and threatened rain the place was deserted, and even though Cody knew realistically that it wasn’t that big it seemed to stretch on forever and ever.

“What a lonely place to get stuck…” he murmured, more to himself than Ted, but Ted heard the words as loudly as though Cody had shouted them into his ear.

“She’s over there.”

“You can see her?”

When Ted looked at him as though he was stupid Cody couldn’t help but pout slightly (unaware that Ted suddenly though that Cody sure looked adorable when he was pulling that face) before sighing and elaborating, “Well I don’t exactly know how it works do I? I didn’t know if maybe you’d have to talk to her or something before you could see her, or whether, I don’t know, maybe she wouldn’t want you to see her for whatever reason and so you wouldn’t see her.”

“You watch too much TV,” Ted murmured, ignoring the pang in his gut when Cody’s face fell slightly, shaking himself a little and then walking forward to where the little girl was currently balancing across one of the pipes. Given the shape of it he doubted she could have walked on it well when she had had a corporeal body, but now that she didn’t have to worry about causing herself an injury and she had all the time to practice… Ted stopped the slightly morbid train of thought before it went too much further.

“Dazzle?”

The girl looked up and smiled, obviously appreciating that he’d remembered how she liked to be called, though she seemed a little guarded, as though she expected him to say something to her that would equate to bad news, “Hi Ted. I didn’t think I’d see you so soon.”

“I’ve brought someone with me,” he announced, in case she hadn’t noticed Cody yet.

Dazzle looked up and cocked her head, “I see him. He’s handsome. Is he your friend?”

Ted’s lips quirked wanly as she called Cody handsome before hesitating, “Yeah… he’s my friend.”

“What’s he doing here? Won’t he think you’re crazy like your other friend?”

“Not so much…” Ted told her, “He’s like me, but he can’t see you. He knows that you’re here though,” equating Cody and himself as equal in terms of ability left a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he tried not to focus on it and instead put it off as the combination of caffeines that he had consumed from the coffee and energy drinks with breakfast.

“Does he?” she got up and skipped over to Cody who was watching Ted with a carefully neutral expression, though Ted could sense that he wanted to ask him questions about what was going on. “If he can’t see me, or talk to me, then what can he do?”

“Uh…” Ted floundered a moment, trying not to laugh slightly at the image of Dazzle walking around Cody and looking at him from all angles as though he was a particularly interesting specimen of something or other, “He can tell people’s feelings from objects.” That was the simplest way he could think of it both in his own mind and in terms of explaining it to a child.

The child paused then and turned back towards him, “Why would him knowing my feelings help you find the people who did this to me?”

“People?” Ted asked sharply, “You said there was only the lady who gave you the lemonade.”

“Yeah,” Dazzle said dryly as though he was slow and should have picked this up himself, “But she was talking to me about a mister at some point. I remembered the other day after you’d gone… I thought maybe it was her boyfriend or something. She was pretty,” the girl rambled away, “So I figured that she probably had one. Boys are yucky though; I don’t ever want a boyfriend. Besides, any boys would just likely get jealous of the fact that one day I can skate better than all of them.”

Before Ted could think of a response to her words Cody asked, “Is something the matter?”

Somewhat begrudgingly (though he didn’t entirely know why himself) Ted murmured, “The woman spoke about a man to Dazzle before giving her the lemonade.”

Cody’s eyes widened, “Does Dazzle remember his name?”

“I can hear you, you know,” the child rolled her eyes.

Ted couldn’t help but chuckle, “She says she can hear you. I guess… try talking to her and I’ll translate I suppose.”

Dead-to-Living-translations… it sounded like some tacky séance slogan.

Pushing the thought away momentarily Ted looked to where Dazzle sat and then pointed it out to Cody, “She’s sitting here.”

Hesitating, as though he wasn’t sure whether Ted was teasing him or not, Cody asked, “Um, Dazzle? My name’s Cody… Um, do you remember the name of the man who the lady spoke about?”

Dazzle seemed to appreciate being treated like an older child than one of her age, but the consternation on her face immediately told Ted that her answer wasn’t one that was going to help them, “No… I don’t remember. I think it started with a D… Or it could have been a K…” she started to look upset.

“It’s OK,” Ted said hastily, hoping to off-set the child getting upset; if she got upset and lost focus then it was likely that Ted wouldn’t be able to see her anymore and then they would both be stumped. Especially if Cody couldn’t get anything from where she usually spent her time in the park. “That’s really good, Dazzle, don’t worry, we’ll make sure to pass this information on to help the people looking for the people who did this to you.”

For a moment she appeared confused and then asked suspiciously, “People won’t believe you can talk to me. I tried talking to my daddy, I told you, and he couldn’t hear me. No one’s going to believe you can.”

“Remember my friend the other day? Well he knows a policeman, and he’ll believe us.”

She seemed to consider this a moment and then nodded, Ted glancing at Cody and nodding, though his look warned him to proceed with some caution, which Cody heeded; although his sister had kids he didn’t see them enough to claim to be much good with children, and he didn’t think her second was even at walking stage yet so their ages were definitely different to the little girl that he was talking to.

“Dazzle? Was there anywhere you especially liked to be in the park? I mean, when you came, was there anywhere you’d go every time, maybe spend some time there?” Cody addressed the space that Ted had indicated again, unable to help feeling both foolish and apprehensive.

Since Ted was so damned serious about his gift Cody doubted that he would use it as an excuse to tease him, but since Ted didn’t seem to like him that much Cody didn’t know really whether the other would maybe put him on and then claim that he was a phony because he hadn’t been able to tell the difference between the truth and a ruse.

“I used to sit over there a lot,” she indicated to the bench that had to have been the one she had referred to when she had said she had sat with the woman to watch the boy skateboarding.

“The bench.”

Cody nodded and crossed to it, though Ted could already read from his face that he didn’t think he could get much from the object; it wasn’t inherent to Dazzle, for one, and he had claimed he only really got things from the objects people had connections to or got use out of, and this was in a public place where quite a few people obviously had use out of it.

Despite himself Ted found himself following, Dazzle walking along beside him.

Back when he had first realised that not all ghosts floated Ted had been disappointed in a twisted way; he had thought that all of the cartoons and TV shows (which he had been banned from watching when his gift manifested itself more stridently prior to the penultimate van incident) had lied to him. Most of them walked as normally as he himself did, though occasionally one would float.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Give me a moment will you?” Cody muttered, not turning around.

To an outsider he probably looked as though he was searching for something, running his hands over the wooden seating of the bench and then the metal underneath it.

“What’s he doing?” Dazzle asked.

“Feeling, I guess…”

Suddenly, Cody stilled and then turned quickly on one knee, undoubtedly scuffing the knee of his nice jeans where he rested on the floor with it. Dazzle asked Ted if Cody had found something, something Ted asked him too, but Cody didn’t even notice his words and instead got up and followed something neither Ted nor Dazzle could see to something across the park near a lonesome bin that barely seemed used if the rubbish floating around in the wind was any indication.

“They would have checked the bins—“Ted started, quieting when Cody held up something after pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to prevent his finger-prints contacting with it. “What is that?” he asked, approaching Cody so he could see better.

“Hey, the lady was wearing those…” Dazzle spoke from Ted’s elbow.

In his hand Cody held what appeared to be one half of a pair of pricey looking hoop earrings.

~::~

“Do you think this was a good idea?”

“In case you’re forgetting it was your idea, John.”

“Yeah I know… Ted just seemed pretty mad about it,” John commented as he shrugged on a jacket and buttoned it up, a scarf covering his throat against the chill. Though he was usually sat indoors he had long-since learned to keep himself always prepared with gloves or a scarf because of the times when he could be called out without warning.

“He’ll get over it,” Randy said comfortably, arms going around John’s middle, nosing lightly against the side of his neck, “Besides, he likes the kid; he just needs to let down his guard a bit and let him in.”

“You really care about him don’t you?” John didn’t sound jealous, more proud, and Randy felt a little embarrassed even though he had no reason to be.

“He’s… A good man, he deserves some happiness. Of course he doesn’t help himself on that front, which is why we had to do it.”

John chuckled ruefully and then sighed, “Ted’s probably reached the café by now… this could very well blow up in both of our faces.”

“At least we’ll know we tried.”

When Randy yawned against his shoulder John quirked a slightly apologetic smile, “Was I a bit enthusiastic last night?”

“You know I wouldn’t have you any other way,” Randy commented, moving around to stand before John now, grinning as he fiddled with one of the buttons of his lover’s coat, “You could always go in late?”

“I thought you wanted to sleep?”

“See, I could just sleep afterwards…”

Chuckling softly John drew Randy into a kiss that made up (for the most part) his following words of, “If I could I would, but I really think I need to go in. In case they—“he quieted when Randy merely held up a hand and quirked a small smile as he nodded his head.

“I know. Now get going. And watch yourself out there,” he added, the same warning he gave John every morning when the other left for work.

Checking his gun was secure in the holster around his chest hidden underneath his coat John then lightly saluted Randy, “I’ll be careful babe. See you later,” and then he turned to let himself out of the flat, leaving Randy to pout for a few moments before he decided to take up the prospect of some more sleep… John really had been vigorous the night before, though he hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he’d enjoyed it.

~::~

John hadn't been in work very long when his mobile phone rang and Cody's name flashed up. He answered it apprehensively, wondering if he was about to get a mouthful for Randy setting the two of them up to have breakfast and his own part in it – Ted was a nice guy but he had an aura about him that seemed to shout that he didn't want to be approached and he'd been actively hostile to Cody on occasion. He didn't know Ted well enough to be certain Ted hadn't said something to Cody to make him want to have nothing more to do with the blonde, or possibly leave town and to hell with the investigation. John hoped not, Cody had been more valuable than he probably realised. 

“John,” Cody said, not sounding angry at all, mildly anxious if anything. “We're outside. We might have something for you.”

“I'll be two minutes.” John dropped what he was doing and walked out of his office, down the stairs and met the two men outside. He had seen the look on Cody's face before, just after he had found information from the glasses, as if he had been given a challenge, knew how to complete it and was just waiting for someone to say he could. Ted seemed slightly pale but there was something akin to a spark of excitement in his eyes. 

“We found something that belonged to our kidnapper,” said Cody without preamble. “And maybe some more information for you.”

“You found something?” John's eyes widened. “Tell me you didn't touch it.”

“Didn't have a choice, had to fish them out of a bin.” Cody handed the earrings, still wrapped in the tissue, to John. 

John examined them doubtfully. “The thing with these is, they probably won't be too good for prints. Too thin. We might be able to get some DNA but if its been in the trash then we're going to get laughed out of court using it in evidence.” He looked over at the men. “How do you know for sure they belonged to our perp?”

“Katie confirmed it,” said Ted. “And Cody followed a trail to them.”

“You went back there?” John knew that Randy had used the case as an excuse to get the two of them to eat together but he hadn't realised that they might actually do it. He hadn't even thought their abilities could compliment one another's. 

“We wanted to see if there was anything else we could do,” said Cody, as if it should be obvious, rubbing his temple with the tips of his fingers. “Ted asked Dazzle where she liked to sit and when she told me, I went to see if I could get anything from her. I don't usually get much from benches or playgrounds or that kind of thing, too much information if you see what I mean. There's so many people and sometimes they leave residue that lasts for years, when others who are there more recently don't leave a thing. Or more often, I don't get anything but there's a – I don't want to say a switch but it's the best way to describe it. In my head. Usually I have it on not that it matters because it there's something there then I'm gonna pick it up. I switch it off when I'm trying to get something and sometimes I can switch it too far the other way and if I really try then I can almost force whatever there is to come to me.”

John only followed a little of this, Cody was a little excitable and conversely, Ted looked almost jealous. Possibly he'd never learned how to switch his abilities off. 

“So I did that, tried to force it. And I knew that there was a woman sitting there, waiting, while the school was still in, wearing these...” Cody frowned. “She got up when she heard the bell and waited somewhere else. She went back to the seat a while later, I don't know how long. But she didn't really sit, she was kinda – holding Katie up and struggling a little. She sat Katie down for a moment, bending over her because Katie's hair came loose and it was tangled in her earring. She tried to pull it and it broke. So she left Katie there a moment before she took them both out.”

“And she put them in the bin?”

“I didn't see that bit but it stood to reason. It was the nearest one, heading away from the main road where she would probably have gone. And from the look of it, no one really checked the bin – there wasn't much in there to see in any case. Didn't look like it's been emptied for a while. And Katie said she was wearing them.”

John checked the earrings again. “There's no hair in these.”

“I don't think she would have left DNA if she could help it.” Cody shrugged. “She would have pulled out the hairs in them.”

“So we can't prove they were hers.” 

“But Dazzle said--”

“I can't take the word of a dead child in court, no offence Ted.”

“None taken,” said Ted politely. 

“We can't prove it,” said John with an encouraging smile. “I'm gonna run it through the lab and see if there's anything I can get from it, but I wouldn't be too hopeful.”

“Even if we don't get any physical evidence from it, there's no reason that Cody can't see what he can get,” said Ted unexpectedly. “He hasn't touched them yet because he didn't want to contaminate them but once the tests are done, can't he try?”

Cody turned his head to stare at Ted, completely taken aback. Ted hadn't seemed too convinced by him, even when he had found the earrings, but there he was suggesting that Cody was not only the real thing but that the only reason they hadn't tried that from the start was for the sake of the investigation. 

John didn't miss the smile on Cody's face at the show of faith, but Ted was watching John rather intently. He supposed that being able to speak to the victim once they were dead and have them talk back gave a sense of urgency to matters that perhaps the cops or maybe even Cody didn't have in the same way. “There's no reason he can't try,” he said in the end. “It's probably the best way to get anything from these. They're a good find and we know that they mean something but they're not evidence that'll stand up. But I'll see if the lab can get anything first. Cody... when you found these, did you actually see this woman?”

“Yes... no. Kind of.” Cody shook his head, frustrated. “I got more of a sense of her rather than an actual appearance. She had dark hair, like Dazzle said, long and – too heavy. I know how that sounds. It was annoying her. The earrings are expensive, I know that much, maybe we could trace where they came from? She was wearing cheap clothes though, something she wouldn't wear again. Flat shoes. And she wasn't really nervous. I think she was more uh, exhilarated. She didn't think anything would go wrong but she was nervy, twitchy.”

“Katie didn't notice that,” Ted commented. “Outwardly, she must have looked pretty cool.”

John nodded slowly. It would have been nice if he could put that description to someone close to the case but the sad fact was that they had no real suspects. He was certain that the cases were linked but none of the families seemed to have a real link to one another and Katie's father at least was out of the picture as a suspect, in John's eyes certainly. The man was distraught and John was dreading the next time he called to see if there had been anything new in her case. 

“I'll try to rush these through the lab so that you can give it a try,” he said to Cody. “In the meantime, I'd better get back. I'll call you and let you know if I manage to get hold of these this evening – probably I will, we can take swabs of whatever's on there. And then we can let you do your thing.” He eyed Cody carefully. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” replied Cody, a little too brightly. “Just a bit headachy. I had trouble sorting through what I got from her and the other stuff I got from other people. It's hard with something like that, it's like cramming for a test I suppose. Information overload. I think I might lie down for awhile.” 

“I'll walk you back,” said Ted instantly, looking back at John. “I'll see you back at your place.”

“Sure,” said John absently, watching as the two men walked off and wondering if there was really any evidence they might be able to get from the earrings. And if Randy would be pleased that the two seemed to be spending some time together, even if it was because they were actually working on the case together rather than out of any apparent attraction. 

Ted frowned a little as they headed off. He was familiar with the headache that sometimes came when they used their gifts too much, he had suffered similarly when he had struggled to find the place he was supposed to be. Trying too hard tended to bring on a tension headache, although he supposed that was true of anything. He had some sympathy though. “Does walking help, or would you rather we called a cab?”

Cody considered it. “It's not too far back to my hotel and the air might do me some good,” he admitted. 

“I'll see you back there and then I'll leave you in peace.”

“Actually...” Cody gave Ted a slight smile. “Would you like to stay awhile? You don't have to, it's just that sometimes after doing all of that, I prefer not to be alone.”

“Really?” Ted looked bemused. “I always want to be alone when I've uh, done that.”

Cody shrugged slightly, knowing that Ted's gifts might not be the same as his but understanding the sentiment. “Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I live alone of course, so if I do want to be with people I tend to go somewhere there's people around but who might not be friends. A library, I find that works best for me. Quiet and people, although it's not ideal. I don't like to bother my friends to come over all the time.”

Ted smirked a little at that. “I can stop by for a while,” he said. “Randy's probably still in bed, lazy bastard that he is. He'd probably have texted me if he'd dragged his ass up.”

They got back to the hotel, making a quick stop in a coffee shop nearby for drinks and snacks. Cody's room had been neatened up already but Cody hung up the 'do not disturb' sign anyway, thinking that he didn't have the patience should the maid return unannounced with towels. When he got back from doing that he found that Ted had drawn the curtains, flipped on a lamp on the dresser and found the painkillers Cody had left beside it. “You often get headaches?” he asked, popping three out of the wrapper.

“Not usually,” replied Cody, taking the pills gratefully and washing them down with a swig of coffee. “But I had the feeling this one was going to be a bitch.”

“You weren't wrong.” Ted took a seat on the one chair in the room, looking a little uncomfortable at being there. Cody considered telling him to perch on the bed and then realised he'd probably only make Ted more uncomfortable; still, it would be nice if he could coax the other into just lying down beside him. 

He lay back on the bed, grateful for the dark room and the relative quiet – this beat the library and he had actual company this time, although when he wanted to be alone after using his abilities he tended to go right back to his own place and lie in pretty much the same way. He had been planning on doing just that when John had called, although he hadn't had a headache back then. It seemed an oddly long time ago. 

“You never did tell me when you found out you could see dead people,” he commented, not looking over at Ted. He was well aware of Ted's hesitation though and assumed that Ted would tell him in that quiet but firm way he had that the topic was not one he cared to discuss. He was rather surprised when Ted actually started talking to him. 

“There were a few instances when I was a kid that I talked to thin air, but my parents thought it was normal, that I was just an imaginative kid with imaginary friends. And it didn't happen often, I don't remember it and nothing came of it. But when I was maybe seven, we went on holiday and out on the beach I got talking to a lady – a girl really, nineteen perhaps. She told me that she'd been to the beach with her best friend, they lived there but they hung out on the beach because they could drink there and party, away from their parents. At the time I thought it was an odd thing to say but I listened anyway. She told me that they'd been with other friends that night and a boy they both liked asked her on a date. She and her friend had agreed months before that if he asked one of them, the other wasn't allowed to be jealous. But it didn't end up like that. They went off their separate ways and she and the friend went to the beach – they'd been drinking already and ended up drinking quite a lot more. They got into an argument and then a fight, same old shit y'know? He's mine, he wants me, if you were my friend you wouldn't do this to me, blah blah blah. Only then the friend slapped her and she swung back, kinda drunkenly. They ended up falling over, brawling, the friend climbed on her back and held her head under the water. It was shallow enough but they were both really drunk. The friend held her too long without realising and she couldn't fight her way out. The friend finally gets up and kicks her, telling her not to be such a drama queen and when she didn't move, the friend ran off.”

Ted sighed a little and Cody longed to look over and see what the man's expression was like. “Next thing my brother Mike runs up and asks what I'm doing. I tried to introduce them and he's all, there's no one there you freak. I didn't understand it because she was there and she stood out. She was dressed okay, shorts and a vest, but she was drenched. And she was pale as well, everyone else had a tan or a burn. She looked really white, fish-white. My brother just gave me a dirty look and told my parents that Teddy was being weird again. The girl gave me a sad look and told me to run along back to my parents. But not to forget her. It made no sense but she was the strange one and so I went back and had ice cream and paddled. All the kid shit.”

Ted fell silent and Cody stared at the ceiling. “Was that the end of it?”

“No. There was a tourist restaurant just off the beach, a really big one and although my dad hadn't liked the idea of going there, he said those places were a great place to pick up botulism, we finally wore him down. And I wanted some botulism. I thought it was a kind of Russian chocolate.”

Cody chuckled. “Why?”

“I have no idea, you know the weird stuff kids pick up. Anyway, we'd never been there before that night but we went in then. It was kinda busy but we'd timed it so it wasn't at its most crowded, my dad isn't into crowds. You had to order at the counter and he hated that, he's used to these restaurants where they wait on you hand and foot and let you order off menu. My mother stayed at the table so no one else could get it, taking care of the baby, but Mike and me went with my dad to order. Huh, there were tacky pictures all over the walls, painted beach scenes that really weren't very good. But there was a picture behind the counter of a girl, which was strange enough. It was quite small but I could see it well enough. I pointed to it and said to Mike, that's the girl I saw on the beach today! Mike rolled his eyes and before he could say anything to me, there was a crash from behind the counter – the girl serving us dropped the glass she was pouring my dad's drink into. She just stared at me for a moment and then said, you couldn't have seen her honey, she won't be on the beach now. I think my dad started to realise something was up because he was trying to talk but I was too excited and I shouted right over him. I hadn't taken any notice of her before but I did then and I saw her name tag. I didn't realise what was going on y'see and I beamed at her. You're Kelsey, I said and I can still hear how happy I was to know who she was. You were fighting over her boyfriend and you pushed her head under the water.”

Cody couldn't help it, he turned on his side to look at Ted. He thought he could see the boy he'd been and could imagine how a boy with no idea that he was unleashing a can of worms could be so happy to be able to prove he had seen a girl and her friend would be able to back him up. And if Ted had always been so indiscreet about what he had seen, no wonder he learned not to trust. Very few people took kindly to those who knew things they shouldn't, Cody knew from experience. 

Ted had been staring into the mid-distance; now he turned his attention back to Cody. Cody thought that Ted would stop talking when he saw Cody was watching him but after a slight pause, he continued with the story. 

“She planted both hands on the counter, leaned over and screamed in my face – she was a big girl, not exactly fat but all-over large and she was tall as well. She scared the crap outta me. Her face was all twisted up, she was furious but she was scared as well. She screams, you can't know that, no one was there and she hit me first anyway! My dad dragged me away from her, giving him his special dad-look, there's no one that can look colder or more frightening than my father can but she didn't even seem to see him. She had her eyes on me. And there were people in the place and behind the counter whispering, staring at me... and her. And glancing at the picture. It didn't occur to me much later that she was wearing the uniform in the photo and that she probably worked there with her friend and if she'd been found dead, they might well have put a picture up in memory. My dad hustled us out of there, my mother had been watching and she was trying to wrestle Brett back into the buggy and he was carrying on too – I just felt really bad for causing such a commotion when I didn't know what I'd done.”

“Did your parents believe you'd seen her?”

“Not then. They shouted a little when we got out but they were more confused than anything else. It wasn't as if I'd said anything inflammatory and in the end they put it down to me being odd and her being full of grief over her lost friend still. The next day, fine. The day after we went down for breakfast, my dad picks up the paper and there's two pictures on the front page, the one that I saw behind the counter and another picture of the waitress. He just stopped, I'd never seen him so still. It was like he'd stopped breathing. He didn't tell me what happened exactly, wouldn't let me see the papers, but I did look it up a little later and found out that she'd been getting talked about after what I'd said, gone and made a confession. She said she'd been provoked and she hadn't meant her friend to die. She did a couple of years, not long.”

“Was the girl at the beach the next time you went?”

Ted smiled a little. “I was never allowed to go back to that beach again, and my travels haven't taken me near there. And I think she'll be gone. You get to learn what they want after a while and looking back, she didn't mention family or anything. She just told me what happened to her. I think she wanted it to come out.”  
Cody tried to imagine what it had been like for him back then and found it difficult, although he recalled very well the whispers and rumours and solemn talks that had gone on around him when his own gift had come out. He supposed it was quite similar. 

“What do your parents think of all this now?”

Ted shrugged. “We don't really talk about it. My dad always said it was a gift from God, but I don't think he feels I've been very blessed. On the other hand, my brother's are quite normal so at least it's only one weird, troubled kid.” He chuckled. “What about your parents? How do they feel?”

“They don't really see it as a problem.” Cody considered it. “I work, I earn, I just happen to employ a specialist service on occasion. And they're used to odd behaviour from their children. I think they're just glad I didn't go into female impersonation like my big brother did. But my sister's an overachiever, she was a cheerleader in the NFL and now she's having a family with a nice guy. So while it's not normal as such, it's not quite the calamity it might have been.”

He smiled at Ted rather shyly. “You're the first person I met who can actually do what he said he can. I tried meeting up with psychics from time to time and none of them were for real. Most of them were con artists or could make educated guesses based on the information they had. Good ones and they were very clever, but it's not the same thing is it? I wasn't sure if you were pulling my leg, when Randy and John said what you could do. But I could tell you believed you did what you said and when I saw you today, I knew for sure.”

Ted blinked. It had never occurred to him that the doubt might work both ways and Cody might end up not believing him.

~::~

When Ted continued to stare at him Cody brought a hand up towards his mouth self-consciously, “Do I have coffee on my chin or something?”

“Huh?” realising what he was doing Ted then looked away and laughed sheepishly before rubbing a hand over the back of his head, “I uh, I guess I’m just not used to being the one doubted.” He didn’t need to voice that he was obviously the one usually doing the doubting but the words hung in the air between them heavily.

However, if Cody felt any animosity towards him for that he didn’t show it, merely smiled, “I get it.”

And Ted was really beginning to believe he did, though it was still difficult to grasp the possibility that someone understood him, the way that no one else had ever understood him before. Clearing his throat softly when the silence between them continued to stretch further Ted then leant back in the chair a little, hand going through his hair again. It was no wonder he always looked like he had a bit of a bed-head case, Cody thought to himself, when his hands were always going through it.

“Have you ever had a… well, for want of better term, awkward moment?”

Adjusting his head against his pillow Cody sighed and closed his eyes a moment to try and soothed the dull throbbing still making itself known in the back of his head.

“Once,” he admitted, “Maybe more than once,” he then amended, “But there’s one that stands out.”

“And who was that?”

“My therapist.”

Ted didn’t know why it surprised him, “You have a therapist too?”

“Had,” Cody amended before sighing, “I got pissed off with someone telling me what they thought I needed to hear, that could never provide me with any real answers. Besides, my last one… I knew more about him than I’m sure he’d like me to have learned, and chances are he’s had me blacklisted against all therapists for the past ten years anyway... I told him, I remember, that his wife would be very upset if she found out that he was doing more than session time with the pretty patient with the emotional disorder who was in the room before me. The look on his face… I think he was going to laugh, but then realised that I wasn’t kidding, I meant it. I could see my face reflected in his glasses and I could remember how serious I was as I added and the pretty lady with the emotional disorder wouldn’t be too happy to know you’ve been with the lady with the big red shoes. And her husband won’t like it either.”

“No way,” Ted laughed slightly despite himself; stumbling upon an affair of a therapist seemed like something from a sitcom and for a moment he did wonder if Cody was having him on despite himself, some kind of revenge for earlier maybe?

“He just stared at me, and then he started jabbering, shouting and making comments about my ‘telling tales’,” Cody air-quoted with his fingers, “And he was so loud my brother Dustin pushed into the room, stopping his secretary, a red haired woman who had—”

“Big red shoes?” Ted supplied.

“Right in one. Anyway, I told Dustin what I felt from the man when I shook his hand and sat on the settee, and the secretary got all panicked and ran out, shouting at the doctor, and then the doctor started shouting at me and… Dustin didn’t like that much. He might be a female impersonator but he’s still not a guy you’d wanna mess with. As that doctor soon learned when Dustin put him on his ass when he made a grab at me and said I belonged in an asylum with all of the other freaks.”

“I guess even therapists can be cruel huh?”

“I never liked him anyway.”

“It sounds like your brother really cares about you…” there was an almost wistfulness in his tone then and Cody opened his eyes, angling his head to be able to see Ted.

“Your brother does care about you. And I’m fairly certain your younger brother does too,” though obviously he couldn’t quite supply to what depth that feeling ran the way he could with Mike, and even then that would be difficult to put into words. It was like the feelings that were sometimes attached to thank you cards and gifts he received from grateful people he had helped. The gifts were always sent back with a kind and tactful letter he hand-penned, but he kept the cards. What could he say? He did have a somewhat sentimental side after all.

Ted looked away a moment and Cody mentally sighed; he could all but sense the atmosphere returning to what it had been between them.

“So… How long do you plan on staying?” Ted asked then.

Surprised (and wondering whether Ted was trying to chase him off subconsciously) Cody then shrugged, “I don’t know. For as long as I can help here I guess.” Which could be another few days or even weeks; he had worked on one case for over a month at one time because one thing or another had frustrated his efforts and the efforts of the trusting cops that he had been working with.

“I see.”

“What about you?” Cody countered.

Ted’s smile was maybe a little wan then, and defensive, as though he dared Cody to say otherwise, “For as long as they call me here.”

Cody nodded and closed his eyes again, rubbing his temples with his finger-tips again, and Ted couldn’t help but notice how long his eyelashes seemed even though he was sat quite a distance from him and the lamplight in the room wasn’t especially bright.

“Do they call you a lot?”

“Let’s just say my phone-bill can get a little long.”

A soft chuckle left Cody, “I can imagine…”

They fell into silence again and Ted adjusted himself in the chair a little; he didn’t want to leave per se, but he often felt claustrophobic when he was in one place indoors for an extended period of time when he wasn’t around people he knew or felt especially comfortable with, and although he and Cody had had a little bit of a… bonding session, for want of a better term, he still didn’t really know him, and he still didn’t know how much he could trust him.

In the end he wondered how he could broach the topic of heading back to Randy and John’s… but found that he’d been panicking almost for no reason when he realised that Cody had fallen into a light sleep.

As he left, ensuring the door had closed behind him, Ted thought Cody looked cute whilst he slept.

~::~

“You’re an absolute jackass.”

Randy looked up from the laptop he had been painstakingly typing on and arched a brow, “And hello to you too. How was breakfast?”

Snorting softly Ted dropped himself onto the two-seater adjacent to the three-seater before then responding to Randy verbally, “It was productive,” he eyed his friend wearily, “Which is what I’m sure you were aiming for.”

“Productive?” Randy arched a brow in interest, “How?”

“Cody and I--- that is to say, Cody, but I helped--- had a breakthrough.”

“Group therapy kind?”

“Not funny Randy.”

“Sorry,” Randy said with a measure of genuine contriteness (for he knew how therapy made Ted feel, even though he was still attending one) before continuing, “So seriously, what breakthrough are you talking about?” sadly Randy didn’t think they had gotten to do anything like he’d consider personally productive because he didn’t look anywhere near happy.

“Cody and I found an earring that Dazzle said belonged to the woman who killed her.”

Randy’s thoughts immediately left his matchmaking plans to focus on the information that was being provided to him, “Are you serious?”

“As a heart-attack,” Ted responded.

“How did you do that?”

Ted sighed and took a breath before reiterating what had happened between himself, Cody, and Dazzle, and then John when the situation had escalated to him. Once he’d finished that part though Randy looked decidedly less happy than Ted would have assumed he’d be considering there was a chance that John might be about to make a break in his case.

“What is it?” Ted asked.

“John’s not gonna sleep tonight.”

“For goodness’ sake Randy, again?”

“Jealous much?” Randy smirked slightly before adding on, “And, sadly, I don’t mean for that. If he’s got something to work on then that means it’s unlikely that he’s going to come home tonight at all…” he sighed, “And I hate it when he stays at the office because I know it means he’s not going to eat properly, or sleep, and if he’s disappointed by the findings…” then he’d be even more worked up.

“You know,” Ted couldn’t help sounding a little ticked-off, “I couldn’t help but think that John and you might be a little happier that we’ve got something concrete. Even if nothing comes out of it yet it proves to them that they’ve gotten something, and they can maybe use it later on. Cody did really well to find it and—”

A slightly surprised look crossed Randy’s face and then he smirked slightly, eying his friend out of the corner of his eye, “Are you defending him now?”

A blush started across Ted’s cheeks but otherwise he remained defiant, “He did do good to find it,” he didn’t need to add on that he very well may not have done had he not been there to direct him (since it probably wouldn’t cross John’s mind to go back to the park since his men had already been there and he was all about focusing forward) but there might have been a small indication of it in his tone.

“So… you two made a pretty good team, huh?”

“We did one thing together, I wouldn’t say that qualifies us as some kind of—”

He cut off abruptly and his expression became even more suspicious than it had been before, Randy mentally preparing himself for the fallout of Ted finally putting two-and-two together and getting four for certain considering the set-up of he and Cody that morning.

“Please tell me you weren’t trying to set me up with him.”

“No one said you had to marry the guy,” Randy waved a hand at him and closed the laptop down, turning the TV channel over at the same time, “I just thought maybe if you could interact some more then you might be a little less hostile… I mean, you like him, and if it wasn’t for the psychic thing holding you back the way you always let it—“he ignored Ted’s sputtered outburst, “Then I thought you might make a go for it.”

“You shouldn’t be interfering like that!” Ted refuted angrily.

When Randy levelled him with his somewhat puppy-dog look Ted knew that he wasn’t going to win this one; for all Randy was tattooed, tall and intimidating, there was something about the way he focused on you, the way he looked right through you, almost, that had you thinking he could see each and every one of your intimate secrets. Ted had always privately joked that it was a shame Randy wasn’t a policeman too; he’d probably make a killing in the interrogation rooms for the cops as most of the perps would probably crack in minutes after being confronted with that face.

“Excuse me for wanting my friend to have a normal, meaningful encounter for once.”

Ted folded his arms over his chest and looked away, “My encounters are meaningful.”

“They’re hardly normal though are they?”

Ted could hardly argue with that when he himself often said the same thing about them in conversation with the other man. Damn Randy, the sneaky snake was using his words against him.


	7. Chapter Six: Got A Goddamn Pack Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John takes his potential evidence to his most trusted technician hoping to get something to help the case. Cody gets some surprising insight into what Ted thinks about him, and the foursome have dinner together.

“So, what’s the hurry John?”

Sheepishly, John handed over an evidence bag with the earring inside of it; he knew that there was probably little point in attempting to preserve it at this stage in the game but if there was something there then he knew he owed it to all of the missing children, their families, Cody and Ted, to try.

“I think I’ve got something for the case—”

Evan Bourne looked at him over the top of his glasses; Evan was young, but looked younger, and although he was an attractive young man he was such a bona fide geek that he had no idea that several members of the force had an interest in him. Hell, half of them brought things into evidence that had no reason to be there just to try and talk to him.

Of course Detective Inspector Jericho would deny that he had ever wasted the technician’s time like that.

“But?”

“How do you do that?”

“I’m psychic,” said Evan with reflexive glibness and John mentally thanked that neither of the psychics he had found himself mixed in with had been there to hear him: he doubted that they would have taken kindly to Evan’s messing around even though he clearly meant no harm by it.

“Ha ha,” John said wanly.

Waving off the fake laughter Evan asked, “So what’s the problem? I would have thought you’d be jumping for joy about a development—“it was no secret just how frustrated the man before him had been getting because of the sheer lack of anything this case was providing investigators.

“This was found… in a bin,” he winced when Evan groaned, “So, I uh, dunno if you’d be able to get anything.”

“Getting something won’t be a problem,” Evan said, snapping a pair of latex gloves on and then taking the evidence bag and opening the seal, reaching within and pulling the earring out. He turned it from side to side and added, “But what we find may of course be no good for you. And the fact it was found in the bin… you know defence is gonna try and piss all over that don’t you?”

John sighed, leaning against Evan’s desk, “Don’t I know it?”

“As long as you’re aware…” Evan clucked his tongue, “I might not be a jeweller but even I know that this is pricey,” not only did it look it but the elements hadn’t quite corroded the material comprising the object as much as they might have had the object been made of cheap materials to form a high-street knock-off, “Somehow I doubt that she threw this away by accident.”

John almost agreed with him as he remembered what Cody had said, but he caught himself in time. He didn’t quite have the time to get into a debate about the use of psychics with Evan right then.

“I’ll put this through a test and see if we can break it down… I doubt we’ll get fingerprints but if you want me to try…?”

“Right now I’d appreciate anything we can get.”

“Alright…” Evan placed it back into the evidence bag and then scribbled something on it in flowing cursive script with a black Sharpie before then placing it next to the microscope that he had been working on when John had come striding into the room.

“How long do you think it’ll be?” John asked, pulling at his tie a little uneasily, “I don’t like to rush you and you know that but—”

“This one’s important?” Evan asked with a smile that said he was used to hearing those words from John quite a bit.

Bashfully John ducked his head, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

“I can get it to you possibly later tonight if I rush it through, and no one disturbs me.”

John could have hugged the smaller man, “Thanks Ev, I owe you.”

“You know my favourite from the Chinese,” Evan said lightly and John chuckled as he got off of the desk and made his way towards the door.

“Duly noted; I’ll make sure to get you extra fortune cookies too.”

“You the man, Cena.”

Still chuckling as he headed back to his office John’s smile only slid once he was safely contained within once more. Leaning against the closed door a moment he then sighed and pressed the blinds down; no one would think anything odd about this, because John was well-known for needing privacy when he was working on occasion.

Moving across to the window across the room John leant his hands of the windowsill and looked outside; the sky had opened up at some point and there was a steady, not overly heavy but not especially light rain falling, causing the pavements and road-tops to glitter as darkness descended enough to cause the streetlights to flicker to life.

Where were those kids?

And if they were dead, how many of them were?

Were they safe? As safe as anyone could be in that situation, anyway.

When would the couple involved finally stop?

John resigned himself to another night of more questions than answers, and further indulging in the waiting-game until Evan got the results through for him.

~::~

Cody blinked himself awake after a couple of hours, covered his eyes with his arm and groaned. His headache was almost gone, faintly lingering but he knew it would leave him be with another couple of aspirin. But he hated falling asleep in the daytime, even if he did have a headache. It made him feel lazy and while he worked from home, or where ever it was that his gift took him, he tried to keep up a semblance of normality and tried to only day-sleep when he was up all night. Belatedly he remembered Ted and lifted his head to look over at the chair. Ted had long gone. 

Cody's phone bleeped to remind him he had a message and Cody realised that was what had woken him – and a good thing as well, since otherwise he might have slept several more hours and then be completely unable to sleep that night, be thrown off any kind of schedule and that was a bad thing when he needed to be alert for whatever came up. Not that he saw any way he would be able to help further, once he had tried with the earrings. He had done all that he could and unless something new came up, he would not be much help to anyone until they turned up something belonging to the children... or a body. The last thing he wanted to do was go anywhere near a dead child, he never had worked with an actual corpse before and he didn't want to start, but John was so caught up in the case that it wouldn't surprise him if the man breached every kind of protocol to ask him. Then again, they had Ted to tell the stories of the deceased. 

Speaking of Ted...

Cody stared at the chair Ted had vacated, the story of a young boy who saw the dead staying occurring to him again. Ted was an enigma and he wanted to know more, much more. He had the feeling that Ted had decided long ago that if he was going to be a freak he may as well be a useful freak and had dedicated his whole life to his gift at the expense of himself and any other dreams and hopes he might have had. Randy had said pretty much the same thing about him. Cody couldn't be sure of course, but it seemed that way to him – there was an undeniable aura of duty around him. It wasn't that there was nothing to Ted, Cody felt that there was plenty to Ted that no one in the world knew about, but it was buried so deeply that Ted had to have worked on making it that way. It would take a lot to uncover the man's true self. 

He checked his phone, finding that the message was from an unknown number but the text identified it as Randy – he must have gotten Cody's number from John. He was suggesting a late meal at their place, takeout, with the underlying suggestion that John might be home by then and might just have been able to bring the earrings with him. Cody's understanding of police procedure was hazy but he was pretty sure that cops weren't supposed to remove evidence... on the other hand, he knew that all too often it was possible to 'borrow' such items as long as they made it back. Even easier when no one else thought they were relevant. 

He sent back a text to say that he could be there and added Randy's name to his contacts before putting the phone down and looking over at the chair again. He hadn't gotten anything about Ted from the watch, most of what he had gotten was about his brother. And the chair was property of the hotel, it was likely that there would be too many auras to contend with finding just one. On the other hand, Ted was the last person to sit there and there was a chance that because he was discussing his past, his imprint would be stronger than someone who took a seat to put on their socks while wondering about what to have for breakfast. Maybe it was a little intrusive but Cody always had problems on that side of things – was it intrusive when there was something he couldn't help at work? He had lost friends before because they worried how much he knew about them, or because he had found out something he would rather not know, but he didn't think that Ted would see things in the same way. He didn't think. Ted was private but he did at least understand that Cody hadn't asked to be able to do what he did any more than Ted had. 

Slowly, Cody went over to the chair and touched the back. Nothing. He focused a little more sharply, knowing that he was inviting his headache back but it made no difference because he still wasn't getting anything, save for the faint ghost of a woman worrying about something that Cody didn't quite catch and didn't focus on, it didn't matter. 

He let his hand slide down to the seat and was immediately rewarded by a jumble of images and stray thoughts. That was how it went sometimes; he occasionally got images of what the person had been doing, usually when he was touching something personal to them, sometimes he got little or nothing and sometimes he had stray thoughts and inconsequential, confusing snippets the way he did now. 

Ted had noticed him sleeping and left, but before that he had been feeling hemmed in and wondering if it was rude to excuse himself. That was interesting and Cody wondered if it was mild claustrophobia or more to do with not being used to spending time with people, discomfort over sharing something about himself. Maybe a combination of the two, Ted had sounded far too easy about being locked up to be particularly worried about enclosed spaces. He wasn't sure how he felt about Ted wanting to get away from him. He sensed it was nothing personal but still, he would have liked it if Ted felt comfortable enough to stay and – what, watch him sleep? That was a bit much to ask of anyone. 

He frowned and focused some more. Ted had not wanted to tell his story and even while he was speaking, he was wondering why he was telling it. Maybe because Cody was one of the few people who might understand, he had told himself, but just because there was understanding didn't mean that he had to share the story. He had been confused and Cody had the feeling that Ted didn't like talking about himself at all. 

And then he had a sudden image of himself. It wasn't uncommon; sometimes he took things from people and saw himself through their eyes, which could be far more devastating than looking in a mirror because usually they were doubting him completely, thinking he was a fraud and a fake, or the kinder ones believed he was the equivalent of an animal that could do an amusing trick. Seeing himself through Ted's eyes was different. Ted stole glances at him, noticing things about him that added to the whole. Ted thought that his eyelashes were stunningly long, that his eyes were the most unusual and attractive shade of blue he'd ever seen. He thought that Cody's lips were far too pouty to belong to a man who wasn't photographed for a living. And he had an odd infatuation with Cody's hands, taking in the details of his unbitten, manicured nails. Hands that were used to create long stories that could hold the imagination or to see the details of a life he hadn't lived simply by touching some item. 

Ted thought that Cody was dangerous. 

Cody snatched his hand from the chair, trying to make sense of the last emotion he'd gotten. Dangerous wasn't entirely correct. Ted didn't think that Cody was a danger to the general population, or the people that he helped. But Ted thought that Cody could be dangerous to him because...

He didn't know. 

Cody's hand twitched toward the chair again, wanting to know why Ted had this opinion of him, but that whole issue of being intrusive entered his mind again. And he thought he might understand. Ted didn't like to speak of himself, he hadn't wanted Cody to be the real thing because that would make him just another confidence trickster and could be safely disliked. Ted was quite comfortable with his life, if not happy with it. He was accustomed to how things were and Cody was a threat to that. Maybe because Cody managed to live almost normally in spite of everything, he was forcing Ted to re-evaluate and that made for disquieting thoughts for someone who had lived as Ted had for so long. 

Cody folded his arms and stared at the empty chair, considering. So he made Ted uneasy. But was that such a bad thing? Ted probably needed his life shaken up a little and Cody knew now that Ted didn't dislike him. In fact, Ted seemed rather drawn to him in a way that probably even Ted didn't understand, in a similar way that he was drawn to places where he might do some good. 

Ted might want to keep him at arms length, but Cody was not some dizzy new-age 'sensitive' who simply let things happen to him. And he didn't feel like letting this enigmatic, stubborn man push him away at every turn. Ted was about to find out that Cody could be just as stubborn as him – and he was used to getting his own way.

~:~

Evan called John on the internal lines just as John was thinking that he might have to call it a night. He knew that Evan was a busy man, the forensics department always was and Evan was the most in-demand of all of those who worked there, but he had hoped that the younger man might have been able to put a rush on the job. He was only half-lucky as it turned out, something that Evan warned him about right away. 

“The earrings are almost suspiciously clean,” Evan told him briskly. “I think they were wiped down before they were dumped. You're lucky – no one dropped half a can of coke in there after them otherwise you'd be completely screwed. As it is I've got a lot of dust and associated muck, that's making things harder but I've taken a few swabs. I might be able to lift something but don't get your hopes up.”

“Right.” John sighed. “So, you have nothing?”

“I didn't say that,” said Evan patiently. “When you put in an earring, there's a lot of skin cells that can transfer to the spike part that goes through the hole, especially if they don't wear them too often or they have sensitive ears. These are pricey enough so that I think that the owner is allergic to the cheaper kinds. I've got something from the spike, some vague traces. I don't know that there's enough to be of any use, all that I might be able to prove is that the owner was in the park at some point and I might not even have enough to match to a DNA profile, if they're on file. But I'll try. I don't think it'll be admissible though, since these might have been dumped there at any time and maybe even picked up by someone else somewhere else and then discarded.”

“I know.” John doodled on the pad in front of him. “But it's all I've got and I need some kind of suspect to look at. I've got good reason to believe these belonged to the perp and if we can just get a name, I can have a starting point.”

“Good luck,” said Evan doubtfully. “I'll do what I can. In the meantime, I've removed as much evidence as I can from them and you can have them back.”

“Do I need to worry about fingerprints?”

“No, there weren't any and all the trace evidence has been removed. Why?”

“I might take them to a jeweller and ask if they know where they came from. Or how much they'd be worth melted down in those cash for gold places.”

“That's a point. I think they'd be worth a nice amount, not a fortune but enough to make it worth going there. So why throw them away?”

“Either she's got enough money that it didn't even occur. They're not of enough significance to make it worth trying to have them repaired. Or else she wasn't thinking about mundane things like putting them in her pocket. She was more concerned about something else and it was just something that she barely thought about.”

“Maybe.” Evan sighed. “So, I'm pretty hungry after having to work this late to get your samples.”

“Oh come on, my samples probably took about five minutes. Although I heard Jericho thought he had some DNA evidence from his case that he brought in for you.”

“And what a wealth of evidence it was. We still had a deal.”

“I'll order your dinner. And I ought to order my own and then take it with. Randy and I are having guests.”

“Family?”

“And old friend of Randy's and another guy we just met recently.”

“Well, pick up your earrings when you bring me my food, and I'll have prawn toast with that as well by the way. It'll do you good to go home for a while and forget all about the case.”

“Yeah,” agreed John, hanging up that phone and thinking it was probably a good thing that Evan didn't know he wasn't going home to leave the case behind. Not at all.

~:~

Randy was mildly amused to note that Ted had changed prior to Cody coming around, yet again. And he had been dressed rather nicely that morning as well. Randy knew that Ted wasn't psychic in the accepted way, he didn't see the future, but he had noticed that those little coincidences happened around the man – he would have some item on him that he had brought on a whim that came in useful for him, or he would just know that certain gifts would be appropriate for a person he barely knew and certainly shouldn't know their preferences. When Randy was trying to talk his way into the pants of a girl back in high school, Ted had suggested that he bought flowers as a gift for her. Randy had been dubious at the time, it had seemed cliché and not the kind of present a teen girl would appreciate but as it happened she was a romantic and no one had ever bought her flowers before, let alone her favourite kind. And Ted had barely said more than ten words to her before that day. 

Ted didn't really carry anything especially dressy though and Randy took in the designer t-shirt that was probably the only other halfway decent thing in his rucksack. Maybe it would be an idea to pick him up a few things, although knowing how Ted felt about people giving him gifts it was a little chancy. And he could leave them at the apartment if it worried him, a good excuse for him to come back, take some time out and know that he was always welcome. If he didn't have a place to call home, then at least he could have a place to go between journeys. It was long past time he made the suggestion. 

Cody turned up promptly at eight, also freshly showered and changed, apparently over the headache that Ted had mentioned had struck him earlier. The younger man grinned at Randy, surprisingly jovial. He'd never been grouchy before but he seemed unusually cheery that night. He was also carrying some beers and Randy took them, putting them in the fridge while Cody went into the living room to speak with Ted. 

“Hi,” he said as he saw Ted on the couch, the remote in his hands. Cody had the feeling that it had been liberated as soon as Randy got up to get the door, because Ted looked a little guilty before he smiled back. 

“Hi,” replied Ted. “How's the head?”

“Better,” said Cody, letting himself drop in the seat beside Ted, a calculatedly casual move. He might be there because they thought they had something they could use on John's case, but he was hoping that he could at least make some headway on the friends issue. There was something about Ted that made his heart beat just a little faster whenever he laid eyes on the man and he thought it wouldn't be a bad thing to investigate that further. If only Ted wasn't so wary about even allowing that much of himself to be exposed. 

~::~

“How’re you feeling?” he asked Ted lightly, “I know I was probably an imposition before,” he lowered his eyes, long lashes casting momentary shadows on his cheeks just as Ted turned to look at him, Cody biting his bottom lip briefly, “I’m sorry.”

Swallowing thickly Ted mentally counted to five and said honestly, “I didn’t think you were an imposition…” he then gave a mildly strained chuckle and said, “Though I think you’re kinda foolhardy to fall asleep in front of a stranger. I mean, I coulda, y’know…” he blushed darkly and shrugged before clearly changing his mind even in spite of his reaction to say, “Stolen your laptop or something.”

“You wouldn’t have done that,” Cody said confidently, “You’re too much of a good guy.”

“I’m not sure I like that,” Ted mused, “Nobody can be that good.”

“Actually, since I’ve been here I’m starting to realise there are lots of good guys…” John, for example, and Randy, though their auras of kindness were all different and manifested themselves in other ways.

“Oh?”

“Yup,” Cody smiled and then turned his attention to the TV, “Anything good on?”

“Oh—I haven’t really looked to be honest. Anything to keep it off of the National Geographic channels in case Randy puts on a snake documentary, and the hip-hop song channels when John gets home…”

“Hip-hop? Seriously?”

“Hey, Randy told me so.”

“I told you what now?” Randy asked, coming into the living-room after casting an impatient look towards the door as though he was expecting John to come walking through the door any second, which was probably the case since he’d apparently confirmed he’d be heading home not moments before Cody had arrived.

“That John likes hip-hop,” Ted informed.

The long-suffering sigh Randy gave made Cody chuckle softly, though he tried to smother it, “I swear, he’s so damned lucky I fell for him before I found out that particular fact otherwise I probably would never have fallen for him.”

“How long have you two been together?” Cody asked curiously.

“Uh…” Randy looked blank for a moment and then said, “Two years and a couple of months, if I’ve added up right…”

“Don’t hurt yourself Rand.”

“You wanna go DiBiase? ‘Cause we’ll go right now.”

“Not before dinner man, not cool.”

For all they seemed tense together now and again there was no denying that Randy and Ted was such fast friends and Cody momentarily found himself jealous. He wasn’t trying to take anything away from their friendship but he didn’t have friends like that. Oh, he had friends, of course, but he didn’t have friends who knew every single facet of him, and had been with him through difficult times thanks to his gift… Layla was the closest he had ever gotten to a friend and confidant, but even with her there seemed to be this barrier he just couldn’t get through.

Ted might be hostile to the idea of people in general, but Cody really tried to make friends.

“Speaking of dinner,” Ted glanced at his watch, “Are you sure John’s coming home?”

“Absolutely; he text me, just said he’s got to drop off Bourne’s food first.”

“Who’s Bourne?”

“Some lab geek who rushed through the earrings in evidence for him; they have some kinda deal at work, they all pitch in and buy dinner in exchange for favours and stuff…” he trailed off slightly and Cody cocked his head curiously; from what he could tell Randy didn’t dislike this Bourne character but there was a little territorial weariness there that made him wonder if Bourne was one of those shockingly attractive lab geeks that they seemed to always cast on cop shows on TV.

“Generous of you,” Ted chuckled.

“Hey, at least I know he’s eating,” Randy shrugged.

“Do you go and eat with him sometimes?” Cody didn’t mean to be nosy but as a writer he was observant and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly fascinated by Randy and John; outwardly they both appeared like typical men’s men who’d be totally against homosexuality and chasing skirt wherever they went until they finally allowed themselves to be tied down, but when you got to know them you saw that their feelings for one another made them stronger people, and the depth of those feelings was enviable.

And also a little difficult to comprehend; Ted must have a difficult time around them sometimes.

Mere moments later the door opened and John walked in, a cardboard box cut in half containing their food portions, cheeks dusted deep red from the wind that had sprung up on his way back, an evidence bag hanging out of his front pocket slightly as he shouldered through the door, “It started fucking chucking it down as I got to the front door—”

“My food’s Ok though right?”

“Nice to see you too dickhead.”

Randy grinned and caught John’s chin in hand to angle the playfully pouting man’s head around, pressing their lips together and kissing him deeply. John hummed in content and kissed him back, though retained enough awareness to keep from dropping their food.

When Ted glanced away like a child confronted with the sight of their parents snogging he thought it was positively adorable, and yet his heart went out to him. Ted seemed like the type of guy who would devote himself wholeheartedly to the person he pledged himself to, and yet because of the way he seemed determined to forever close himself off from others it seemed unlikely that he was going to find that person soon, if ever. Speaking of which… Cody wasn’t entirely sure which way Ted swung.

When they had breakfasted together Ted hadn’t seemed especially fussed about any attractive women they had seen about, and yet Cody hadn’t noticed him paying attention to any attractive men either. Cody certainly hadn’t been because he’d been too busy looking at Ted… and that thought was slightly stalkerish so he thought he’d best move on from it quickly before he lost his train of thought trying to justify himself inside his own head. What if Ted was asexual? Cody blushed at his own hasty lament that he hoped that wasn’t the case and looked away, missing Ted stealing yet another look at him.

“Randy,” he inputted lightly when the kiss seemed about to develop to the point that said you’d forgotten you had company present, “I think we’d all like to eat tonight you know.”

A slightly wet sound accompanied their lips parting, John having the grace to blush before heading into the kitchen to start dishing up, Randy merely sticking his tongue out at Ted in a rather juvenile manner and huffing playfully about how he had the worst timing.

“I meant to say thank you for inviting me, even if it is only for work purposes,” Cody smiled and Randy felt oddly guilty for a moment even though he had no reason to be.

Shrugging slightly he rubbed the back of his head almost embarrassedly, “It’s no fun to eat dinner alone all the time…”

Don’t I know it? Cody and Ted thought almost at exactly the same time without being aware that the other had just mimicked their thought down to the letter.

Minutes later John came out with their food and plates, placing them down as Randy went and made himself useful at John’s behest getting cutlery, and then getting the beers Cody had brought as accompanying drinks since they seemed decently chilled by that point.

“Dig in everyone!” John beamed, clearly in good spirits.

~::~

“You don’t need to rush this Cody.”

“It’s better if I do it now; hopefully a full stomach will be enough for me to counteract the headache,” Cody said absently as he studied the earrings inside of the evidence bag, as though hoping he might get something just from that alone.

“Seriously, just chill out a few minutes—“Randy added on, he and John settled on the three-seater as usual, Ted on the two-seater and Cody sitting on the floor.

Ted had awkwardly offered him to sit next to him when he’d intended what Cody was going to do, but the ravenette had merely offered another one of those smiles that just seemed to further emphasise his pouty lips (and Ted might be mistaken, but was Cody actually wearing gloss?) and shook his head to say it was alright; he was used to camping out on floors to eat, even at his brother’s place and he had a proper dining-room and no legitimate excuse for any other eating arrangements.

So, that was how they’d ended up, ending up with two beers a piece as well since there were to leftover in the fridge from the last time Randy and John had brought some.

“Don’t feel too disappointed,” Ted suddenly murmured softly, causing Cody to look at him, but he was looking at the bag in Cody’s hands, “I mean, if you don’t get anything.”

Nodding, Cody didn’t trust himself to speak; he would be disappointed and he’d see himself as a failure if he couldn’t get anything even though John had said from the beginning that it would be unlikely thanks to the location and possible added exposure that the earrings had gone through.

Closing his eyes Cody took a breath and then upended the bag so that the earrings fell into his exposed palm. Silence had descended almost like a blanket around him, and had he not been able to still sense the presence of his three companions he would have thought that he was completely alone and that they had all left. The thought panicked him more than he cared to admit; sometimes when he experienced really awful, harrowing or otherwise negative emotions then he could be a little messed-up afterwards… and he’d rather embarrass himself in front of others about it than try and keep everything bottled in and deal with it alone. Despite what people said about most things becoming easier over time that wasn’t one of them.

“Cody—“Randy started after a few moments.

“Sh!” Ted shot immediately, surprising John.

“What—?” he started but Ted pressed a finger to his lips.

Cody didn’t seem perturbed by their conversation but Ted knew better.

“He needs to concentrate… be quiet, OK?” he all but whispered, eyes going back to Cody.

John and Randy exchanged a look, shrugged and arched a brow respectively, and fell quiet after a few seconds and resumed watching too.

How? How could this have happened? It wasn’t supposed to happen like this! Cody could sense such an intense fear and panic in his chest that he struggled to breathe, almost causing John, Ted and Randy to move as one to try and shake him out of the sort-of trance he’d fallen into. Why wasn’t she moving? Why wasn’t she waking up? There was a dark haired woman, maturing in age but still attractive to the eye, with dark eyes and red lipstick, dressed in a surprisingly tight and rather racy skirt and bustier top despite her age. She still held a lot of pride in her appearance, he felt, and wearing anything like jeans (unless they were perfectly fitted) made her feel like a frumpy housewife. The panic was growing stronger now, intermingled with anger, Wake up! Wake up! She shouted and shouted, and then she started shaking the unmoving child. It had been an accident, he hadn’t meant to push her so hard, she had fallen and banged her head--- she rounded on a man who had been standing across the room silently, startled looking himself, as though he wasn’t sure what was happening. Cody hadn’t noticed him until that moment. It’s all your fault! You killed her! The woman was incensed, screaming and enraged, her hair whipping wildly around her face as she leapt at the man, clawing and sobbing, It’s all your fault! You did this! You never loved her!

It was a sight to behold, Ted thought hazily, Cody was twitching and his lips were moving as though he was mouthing along with something but nothing came out. Sweat had begun beading on his forehead and a few tears had slipped down his cheek from underneath his closed left eye-lid, something that had startled him, and he was sure John and Randy too. However, they all sensed that they were to leave him alone, unless he seemed in real danger. It was safe to assume thought that he was getting something from the earrings despite the resignation they had all made that presumed he wouldn’t get anything.

In his mind’s eye Cody watched the man (he wasn’t as big as he had imagined, but burly in the way that spoke of some semblance of body-building in his life at some stage, and strangely, his face was obscured, as though even she, the owner of the earrings, wasn’t remembering him properly somehow) first fend off the woman’s attacks and then draw her close as she sobbed into his chest, soothing her, Don’t worry babe, we can take care of this. No one’ll ever know she was gone…

His eyes flew open, another tear coming loose.

With shaking fingers Cody deposited the earrings back into the bag, drew a shuddering breath that sounded almost like a sob and then touched his cheeks; John noticed that he didn’t seem entirely surprised that he was crying.

When a handkerchief was suddenly thrust into his vision Cody blinked, surprised to see Ted holding it. He looked solemn, a little pale, and he too was sweating a little; as though he’d been struggling greatly to keep control of himself. Soundlessly Cody accepted the handkerchief with a nod of gratitude, wiped his eyes and then made to hand it back. “Keep it,” he murmured softly.

A moment’s pause and then:

“Cody,” John asked, voice hoarse and earnest, carefully low as though he was frightened of upsetting the atmosphere somehow, “What did you see?” Randy and John were gripping one another’s hands tightly, Randy staring at him as though he’d never seen him before.

Cody swallowed and sighed, “Well, I think I know why they’re kidnapping children… except I don’t understand why they’re taking little boys…”

~::~

Ted didn't take his eyes from Cody for a moment as the younger man drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, clearly trying to draw comfort from himself. Cody sensed the weight of his gaze and looked over at the blonde a moment before looking back at the carpet again. Ted was the most likely to understand, surely he had heard things that were equally upsetting? Crazily he had to quash the urge to ask Ted if the dead people he saw had some marking of the way they'd died, if they were bloodied and gross and how he stood to look at them if they did. 

“Why are they kidnapping the children?” asked John, gently but with an edge to his voice that told of his need to know. 

“There was another child,” said Cody, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them when he realised he was seeing that same scene over again. He wondered if he was going to be able to rest that night without seeing it every time he turned the lights off and decided that perhaps his earlier nap had been a good thing since he might not be too shattered in the morning if he stayed up all night distracting himself with his writing. 

“They thought of her as their child.” Cody spoke flatly, rapidly. “I don't know if she was, biologically, but they raised her for... a few years at least, I can't tell if it was her whole life, same as I can't see if she was theirs. She was maybe seven? Ten? Somewhere between those ages. She'd been a brat lately, they tried to raise her to be how they wanted her to be but she was starting to question, argue. They kept her to themselves. She was home schooled and she didn't really go out much, she didn't have to, she didn't need anyone but them...” Cody took a deep breath. “Mostly her mother. She was lucky. But she didn't see it that way and one day she did – something, I don't see it. Scared them. Defied them. He was the disciplinarian of them and he had a temper, he didn't mean to but she talked back to him and his hand ran away with him. He slapped her, hard. She spun around, stumbled, tried to keep her feet but they tangled up and she fell. There was something...” Cody gestured a shape with his hands. “A fireplace, or a fire guard? Something like that, I'm not getting it. He didn't mean to do it. His uh, wife? Girlfriend? The woman, our kidnapper. She was enraged, devastated, she punched at him but she didn't really hurt him and then she collapsed. She knew. She didn't have to call the ambulance to know that the child was gone. He managed to hold her until there was some kind of reason and then he told her...”

Cody looked up again, noting that Randy and John were watching him with matching looks of mild incredulity that they probably weren't even aware of; he knew that even those who believed in what he could do sometimes had difficultly when he came out with information he couldn't possibly know and they couldn't immediately prove or disprove. Ted however was just watching him with that same intent expression. Coy found it oddly comforting and looked at Ted for the rest of his story, watching the blonde from beneath his lashes. 

“He told her that no one had to know. And she didn't want anyone to know because then he'd be taken from her and that would be it. Everyone would know... something. But they could make things right, he told her. No one would ever know she was gone. They could fix it.”

“Like replacing the family goldfish while the kids are at school,” said John quietly. 

Cody glanced over at him. “Maybe. I didn't get that far but given the circumstances, that seems likely.”

“Replacing one kid for another.” John thought it over. “That would explain the first child going missing – Katie, the one Ted sees. Even the second, since we know what happened there. But the others? The boys? And you said that you felt the last one was alive.”

“I can't help you.” Cody shrugged slightly. “All I can tell you is what I saw. They talked about it. They never went to the police or told anyone about the girl dying. She must be somewhere, they had to do something with her. But I have the feeling that they moved on in a hurry, before anyone could notice. They didn't live in a bubble and someone would notice if their daughter was suddenly different.”

“You said you weren't sure that she was.”

“I'm not. They called her that and she called them mom and dad but – well, I just have a feeling is all. The connection isn't the same as I usually get from families. Maybe she's adopted.”

“Maybe.” John didn't look convinced though and Cody knew what he was thinking; what if they'd already kidnapped at least one other person prior to the children they'd already taken? It might even fit in with their MO, if they had grabbed a child with no mother in the first place, it could be the reason they had done so again... although Cody thought they'd have to do a lot of research into finding such a child and it seemed like a lot of trouble just because it had been lucky for them the first time. 

“Can you describe either of them, or the child?” asked John briskly, taking his notepad and pen from where he had left it on the table. Cody had wondered about it at the time, now he knew why. 

“I don't even see the child, I just get an impression of her from the earrings. Long hair, dark blonde I think. Wavy. Blue eyes. When I try for more, I just get her back while she's lying on the ground.”

“How about the adults?”

“Uh...” Cody tried his best to describe the woman from what he had gathered and explained the weird problem he'd had seeing the man's face. “I don't understand it but maybe it was because of how angry she was when I saw what I did. She wasn't really aware of anything much apart from what she'd lost.”

John looked grim but wrote down what he had. “You said they were in a room. Any signs of where it might have been? Can you trace it?”

“Like a psychic bloodhound again?” Cody looked amused but tired. “I don't have any real detail about the room. I think it might have been part of some through room, where the dining room's part of the front room? But there was no table or anything. The house seems unremarkable as well. I think it's somewhere in the city but hell, it's a big city. I'm almost sure it's a house rather than an apartment but I don't have anything else.”  
John chewed on his lip for a moment. “If you really focused, if you hung onto those earrings, might you be able to find where the house was at?”

“I don't know.” Cody sounded irritable. “Maybe. But that's the strongest image I got from them, not directions or places like I do sometimes. I can't be sure. And emotions that strong, they tend to overpower everything else, like they're on a loop. It's hard to get anything else when it's like that. Anyway, does it matter? I have the feeling that they didn't stay so even finding it, they might not be there.”

“But we might be able to trace a name,” said John patiently. “And more. You said that the little girl died there. And if she's still there, and she might well be since there's been no resolution for her, then Ted might be able to speak to her. We might be able to know something, anything.”

Ted whipped his head around to stare at John. “That's not how it works. People don't automatically stay earthbound because they were murdered. Some just move on, they must because otherwise I'd be getting people all the time. And she might not have a reason. Everyone I've met, they seem to want something before they leave and go on to whatever. To make amends or get revenge or make sure that someone they care for is okay. You can't be sure that even if we find where she died, she'd be there still.”

“I'd think that she would be.” John leaned back, tenting his fingers, deadly serious. “For one thing, she was killed and by her caregivers, I'd think she'd feel betrayed. Even if she loved them, she'd be upset and maybe want some answers, or tell them that she forgave them, or something. Or if Cody's instinct is right and they're not her real parents, she could want to make sure that they know what happened to her, or find them.”

Ted shrugged. “I've never gone deliberately looking for a person that way before.”

“But you've been led to them every time,” said Randy, sounding a little excited. “Maybe between you, you can find the right place. And then even if there's no one there, John can check the rental records or the house history or something.”

Cody and Ted exchanged looks and Cody sighed. “Looks like you've got yourself a goddamned pack of psychic bloodhounds.”


	8. Chapter Seven: Blowing Hot And Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted, Cody and Randy investigate a lead Cody 'finds'... And Ted has a conversation with someone unexpected from The Other Side.

Randy offered to drive Cody back to the hotel but Cody insisted that he needed the air and there was no need. Ted however wouldn't hear of Cody walking alone and said he would accompany the man. John wasn't much of an option, given that he was poring over city housing issues to see if there was anything at all he might be able to see that could narrow down the search. Ted thought he was about to be very disappointed. There really were no clear-cut ways of telling anything simply from glancing over the city and hoping. 

“I don't know that you should bother walking me back,” said Cody as they stepped into the fresh night air. “I'll get back safely but then you'll have to make it back alone.”

“I'm used to travelling through worse places than this later at night,” replied Ted. “I've not really run into trouble though.”

“Really?”

“I got mugged three times but I don't carry much cash and I don't look that rich, so usually I just hand over the cash I have. I also usually have a shitty phone in my bag to hand over if they insist.”

“You prepare to be mugged?”

“Not exactly.” Ted shoved his hands in his pockets. “I'm not usually in bad places at night. But sometimes I get called into the middle of something and I don't wanna get killed.”

“Did you ever get called into some really bad situation?”

“I rarely get pulled into good ones.” Ted gave a little smile. “But only once. Gang war. There were a lot of people getting hurt and I got some names from a guy who got shot in a drive-by. He was just waiting in a park, near the track. He'd been jogging when he got caught. I turned over all that I had, names, criminal activities, even who was best to lean on to turn on the others. It didn't really go all that well though. There was a lot more trouble and I'm not sure I made it any better.”

“They got arrested though?”

“Most of them. Some got away, a couple others had been killed in retaliation attacks – it was a huge thing.”

“Then they're off the streets and you did make things better.”

“I guess. I just know I never wanna go back in case I get recognised.” Ted looked sideways at Cody. “You really think we can find where this girl died?”

“Honestly? I'm sure I can't. The last thing I worked on was a missing girl and I did find her, but it was different. I could see what she'd been doing while she was wearing the ring I worked with and where she went. There was nothing that stood out like with the earrings. It was just the same thing, the same depressing shit and the same depressing house full of assholes. I could find it because I could see it from the outside. This one, I didn't.” He hesitated. “Might you be guided to her?”

“Like I was to Dazzle?” Ted shrugged. “Not likely. It's Dazzle that drew me here I think. I haven't had any other feelings, like there's somewhere else I need to look.”

“Is there any way you could – well, force the feelings? Like I do?”

“I don't know.”

“Have you ever tried?”

“No. Well...” Ted sighed and pulled a hand from his pocket to run through his hair. “When I get to a new place I try to invite the feelings, when I don't know for sure where I'm supposed to be. But I never tried to find a specific person before. And we don't even have a name, let alone a general location.”

“If I worked really hard, I might just be able to get a name, or a nickname,” said Cody quietly. “I can't promise, but it'd be more likely than trying to pinpoint a house in a city this size. Might you be able to focus and sense her? Following that trail would be more accurate than trying to locate one house I've no attachment to.”

Ted looked uncomfortable. “I'm not sure that's a good idea--”

“Why, because you never did it before? It might be something you can do and not realise.” Cody stopped, reaching out to catch Ted's hand before the blonde could return it to his pocket. “Please Ted. I might be able to recognise the house, but find it? I don't see it happening. But you're guided to the dead, you've said so before. Guided across state lines, to specific locations. If you can do that, maybe you can do this.”

The odd little charge that he had felt when they shook hands when they met shot through Ted's hand again and he widened his eyes slightly, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling. “I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try.”

Cody could hear the doubt in his voice, not so much about whether he could do it or not but over the not hurting part. Cody didn't see how it could but made a vow to himself that he would make sure Ted didn't regret trying to help out. There was still the chance that it would amount to nothing but if it did... then it was another sign that he and Ted worked things out faster and better as a team. Used to disbelief and being the only person who could do anything like what he did, Cody wasn't sure if he found the thought comforting or disquieting. 

~::~

“Hey,” he swallowed and squeezed Ted’s hand, still enveloped in his own, fighting a visible shiver running through him as he considered how warmed and calloused Ted’s hands felt against his own, “You’re not gonna be doing any of it on your own this time… I’m gonna be right there with you all the way through it,” he assured. Of course there was every chance that his reassurances could have the opposite effect but even so he had to get it out there.

Because Ted always seemed as though he expected to be alone for everything he did.

An unreadable expression crossed Ted’s face and Cody forced himself to let go of the other’s hand. “I’m sorry,” he apologised softly as he looked down. He didn’t feel as though he’d overstepped any boundaries per se but given what he had felt from Ted’s residual aura left on the chair earlier, and the way his own emotions were all over the place thanks to what he’d experienced from the earrings he could very well have been misreading the situation all wrong.

“You don’t need to walk me any further, I can make it from here.”

“Cody—”

“Honestly, it’s fine. It’s getting cold and dark, you should get back before it gets worse. I’ll be OK on my own.”

“But you don’t like to be alone,” Ted didn’t know what prompted him to say such a thing but when the words were out there he found that he didn’t want to call them back.

A slightly sad smile crossed Cody’s face, “But you get used to it, right?”

Ted couldn’t bring his voice to work; it was as though someone had clicked a switch on his voice and shut him off.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Ted… If you call the hotel and leave a message, then I’ll come and meet you whenever and we can see what we could do. If you’re still interested in finding out.”

On that note he turned and walked away, Ted watching his back even as he vanished around the corner where his hotel was situated. The blonde wasn’t quite sure what to make out of what had just happened, either through his interaction with Cody, or because of the way the other had maintained that he should contact him… without using his actual number.

Despite the fact he knew he’d probably engineered the weariness from Cody he couldn’t help but feel oddly slighted by what had just occurred, feelingly oddly dejected as he walked back to John and Randy’s place.

~::~

“Can you believe that just happened?”

“Not really…”

“He looked so freaked by what happened.”

“I know…” John sighed, hanging his head slightly.

Randy’s expression softened and he rubbed his lover’s arm, “John, what’s wrong?”

“I just… I mean, I know that’s what Cody does, feel things from objects, but I can’t help but feel as though I made him go through something terrible. Selfishly. I mean, despite him trying really hard what he could get for me is nigh on no use.”

“What do you mean no use?” Randy frowned, “I mean, the fact he hadn’t seen any faces too well may not be too helpful but surely the backstory helps? I mean, you’ll know what kind of thing to look for, what to expect. They told you about there being a woman, right? And I know you said before you and the task force had only ever considered a man being involved.”

“We would have found out eventually—“John started and then shook his head, “But probably only after everything went to hell. If they’ve already killed one and they’ve taken a few others what’s to say that at least one of those hasn’t died? Even if it was accidental it’s still inexcusable. And what if we can’t prove anything about the little girl?”

Randy opened his mouth to try and intercede but John was clearly on a roll.

“I mean, they could easily have taken the child’s disappearance and ran with it, telling authorities that she skipped out on them or something. And if they’re hopping from state-to-state then for all of the authorities best efforts they may be almost impossible to follow. If they said she’s just run out on them there isn’t going to be much that they could do about it, and reports being filed may not always get handled the right way… especially if background checks on the couple reveal that they have no priors.”

“Way to be optimistic babe,” Randy couldn’t help but joke weakly.

“I’m sorry,” John rubbed a hand over his face, “I just feel so damned useless.”

“You’re burning the candle at both ends to try and sort this out,” Randy frowned, “And Cody turned out to be helpful on some level,” granted Ted’s cooperation further strengthened his case there but he didn’t come out and say that for he didn’t feel he needed to. John would already know, “So if there’s anybody that should feel far from useless it’s you,” he squeezed John’s hands, “I know you’re going to bring those kids home John, one way or another, I know you’re going to do everything you can to get the kids back where they belong.”

“What would I do without you?” John finally whispered as silence reigned for several long moments.

“Never rest, never sleep, probably have gained a doughnut belly—”

“Hey!” John protested, and Randy couldn’t help but grin slightly as he realised that he had managed to distract John, even if it was only a little and only for a moment, “I’m not the one who likes doughnuts that much!”

Randy arched a brow, though said nothing; he rarely ever indulged in sweets like those because he was concerned about his waistline. And John’s job was kind of stigmatised by the food as the only thing they could clearly bring themselves to eat after everything they went through day to day.

Looking to meet Randy’s eyes John quirked a tiny smile at him, “I do love you, y’know?”

Randy brought an arm around John’s shoulders and leant in, resting their foreheads together, “You’re damned right you do. And I guess I love you too.”

A pout crossed John’s lips (a face he would maintain until death that he never ever pulled) as he found his vision filled with Randy’s face, the pair of them breathing the same air, “You guess you love me? Maybe Ted should come and sleep in our bed tonight then so you can have the couch—”

Randy’s jaw set the way John had half expected it to, “I don’t share, John, even if it is with my best, longest friend.”

“You sounded such a child then, it was cute.”

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t call me that.”

They both chuckled softly and then John sighed.

“I just want this to be over. I just want those kids home.”

“I know you do babe, I know you do.”

For all they ribbed and teased one another they really did love one another deeply and didn’t doubt that should something happened to remove the other from their lives then everything would likely go to hell in a hand-basket for them ever so quickly.

Their lips met in a reassuring, tender kiss, John’s hand cupping the back of Randy’s neck as he angled the kiss further.

Before they could become too heated though the sound of the front door opening parted them, but it seemed to be a wasted movement because Ted barely paused in the living-room as he passed them, heading through the kitchen and then across to the bathroom where he closed the door hard behind him and undoubtedly locked it.

“Think something happened?” John asked.

“Nope,” Randy responded lightly, “What do you think he’s gone in there for?”

~::~

As Cody had predicted sleep didn’t come easy that evening, and he was hardly in the mood for romance (as his book demanded) but Cody had found one good thing had come out of his interactions there in Missouri; Ted was proving invaluable fodder with which he could twist and change a little to meld himself the perfect leading man. Maybe he was biased, but he was sure when they next did one of those book poles if this one made publishing that the lead male would be his most widely loved yet. And if it didn’t make publishing? Well… a few changes and Cody could have a private little story all for himself. Granted, there was a part of him that did feel a little guilty about using Ted as a basis for some variation of his own fantasies (and he didn’t just mean in the legal sense, for he doubted anyone would immediately realise Ted was his basis should they know him if he read the book, and he doubted Ted himself would ever read it) but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

It was all Ted’s fault for blowing so hot and cold, and for being so goddamn sweet and drop-dead gorgeous…

Yeah, was it easy to tell he hadn’t slept?

Still, Layla would be happy when he emailed her this next lot of the manuscript; she was his self-proclaimed biggest fan after all, her reason for why she treated him like an absolute slave when he was in the midst of writing: she wanted to make sure that he did his stories justice and get them out into the open as soon as she possibly could. Although it was nice to have such a hardcore fan it also meant that she inordinately could put more pressure on him than even a general manager would. It was probably a good thing that Cody usually managed not to make a complete ass of himself where pressure was involved.

Curling a hand over his knee Cody glanced at his watch; it was only six in the morning, there wasn’t much he could be doing now. Ted and Randy were likely still asleep and John was most likely getting up to get ready for work in the research he’d done on day-to-day habits of policemen back in the day for a character/plot of one of his earlier books had any credence to lend him. The ravenette also knew that if he went and got breakfast now then he was likely to be ravenous by mid-morning, and since his eating habits could be sporadic at best he tried to keep as regular as possible…

The sudden sound of his phone vibrating startled him violently; he could have sworn he’d put it on silent after he’d gone to work the night before…

When he saw the text was from Randy he was somewhat stunned (he hadn’t taken the man as an early-riser. It said that he and Ted would be over in the hour, which again surprised Cody… maybe Ted wanted to get this over with as soon as possible to prove there was nothing more he could do and therefore not have any reason to see him anymore.

That thought made his stomach drop as though he’d just been sucker punched in it.

Sending a response that he was awake and would be ready when they arrived Cody saved what he had been working on, turned his laptop off and then tucked it back into its bag. Without glancing at himself in the mirror (he knew what he looked like when he’d had one of his bouts of insomnia) he headed into the en-suite bathroom and then fiddled with the taps until he managed to get the connected shower to a temperature that he liked.

Stepping underneath the slightly scalding spray he sighed softly and then inclined his face towards it; hopefully this would rejuvenate him enough that he wouldn’t look so much like an extra from The Walking Dead, although he doubted the shower was going to do much for the bags underneath his eyes. Still, he doubted anyone would be looking too closely at his face anyway… Washing himself thoroughly Cody then exited the shower, debated a moment and then decided to just do his teeth. He wasn’t especially hungry but that may change after, and he didn’t want to get caught out with bad breath.

Just as he was finishing drying his hair and running a comb through it another text came through to let him know that Ted and Randy were about five minutes away. Shoving his wallet and cardkey into his pocket Cody then headed out of the room and text them at the same time to say that he would meet the pair of them outside of the hotel. He’d been standing there barely five minutes when they did indeed come walking into view together.

Wow, one of them at least was very good at time keeping.

~::~ 

Cody smiled and raised a hand in greeting as the two men walked toward him. Although it wasn't very bright Randy was wearing designer shades and a slightly grouchy expression, while Ted seemed maybe a little tired but not too much, far more awake than Randy was at least. “Hey Cody,” said Ted with a smile when they got close enough. 

“Hi Ted, Randy.” Cody managed a smile of his own, hoping he didn't look like death. The others might have seemed mildly tired but not so much so that they hadn't slept, more that they had been roused before they were ready. “This is earlier than I was expecting.”

“Yeah.” Randy looked slightly uncomfortable. “John got yoinked out of bed about half an hour before I texted you. The office called. I don't know what happened, he couldn't tell me much but whatever it was, he shot out of the house like his feet were on fire and his ass was catching. I couldn't sleep and Ted was awake watching TV so we thought we'd see if you were up yet and maybe we could see what we could find.”

Cody gave Ted a curious look – had he mentioned what they had talked about the night before? Ted shook his head slightly, as if he had read Cody's mind. Randy didn't seem to notice the exchange. “It's not the only case the cops are working on but it is John's primary case and if someone called him back into the office, they might have found something.” 

Ted frowned and Cody knew he was probably wondering if they'd found Dazzle's body or if it was something else related to the case. Or something that wasn't, but then again what else could have John running off at some ungodly hour of the morning?

“You guys got any ideas?” asked Randy, completely unaware of what had been discussed the night before.

Ted sighed. “Cody seems to think that I might be able to focus in on a single victim if I concentrate on them – the one he saw last night was the idea. But we don't have a name, or a picture, don't know he name. Don't even really know what she looked like. So I'm not convinced I can pull it off.”

“I think you could,” argued Cody. “Although I think they moved, there's such a thing as comfort zones and I think they'll stay in state. Maybe even in the city, it's large enough that they can move a couple miles away, not know anyone and still be somewhere they're happy with.”

“All the kids went missing from a pretty localised area,” added Randy. “John did a map but I bet we can chase it up ourselves easily enough.”

“How localised?” asked Ted suspiciously. 

“Well, within about ten miles I think. John thought that they probably live somewhere in travelling distance of that, in the middle? But it's not an exact science. And given that they're looking for certain types of children, they might just go where they know they can find one.” Randy considered. “On the other hand, it gives us a place to start. Maybe you can trance out a little, find what we're looking for.”

“Or maybe she's not even there,” said Ted crossly, but he already knew he was beat on this one. And he had a feeling, not dissimilar to when he was being called. He suspected that the girl they were looking for was there all right. Somewhere.

“That's where they are now at least,” said Cody patiently. “Not where they were. Did you bring the earrings?”

Randy nodded. 

“Then I suggest we find a place to sit and I'll see if I can get anything else from them.”

They eventually went to a local park, staying well away from the play area – both Ted and Cody were morbidly aware that they seemed to be good snatching places for the couple – and once they were seated somewhere relatively private Randy plucked the earrings from his pocket, looking around. There was a jogger in the distance but the early hour and that it was a weekday seemed to have stopped too many people from being there at that time. He dropped them into Cody's hand. “I don't think John meant to leave them,” he said. “But he left so quickly--”

“Hush,” Ted told him absently. 

Cody frowned, tuning the two out, trying to see past the images he'd already gotten. It wasn't easy. The woman hitting her partner and screaming about their child rose in his mind again, so strong it seemed to eradicate everything else. He concentrated on ignoring that, hoping to get something else. Anything else. Not only did it pain him to watch the whole thing again but it was of no use to them anymore. The house they were in could be anywhere, there was nothing to suggest locale. But Cody noted that disturbing blankness of the man's features again and distantly wondered if she was pretending he was someone else, or if he had somehow changed his appearance in the time between then and the time she had thrown away the earrings and the memory of how he used to look was hard to come by. 

For a while there was nothing more, the image stuttering over and over in his head, the woman screaming, the man telling her that no one need ever know. And then suddenly it worked; he found a glimpse of something else

“Bitch,” he muttered thickly, not knowing he had spoken aloud or that Ted and Randy were watching every move he made like hawks. “Show that fucking bitch, who she think she is? Get her back.”

The bitch, a sweet-faced lady in her fifties. But not as sweet as she looked, no. The ball goes out of the yard, she sees it through the window and the baby thinks she isn't watching, goes to get it. One, two, three steps and mommy is running to the door, she can't go out of the yard and she knows that. She gets to the door, yelling as she sees the bitch handing the ball back, swats the child as she runs over to her.

“You never leave the yard, not ever,” growled Cody, not sounding much like his usual self. 

The bitch smiling, a little concerned? Saying it was only over the yard and she didn't mind at all, children lost their toys sometimes. Calming voice, behave in front of the neighbours or they get involved, get the cops involved. The bitch asks what school the child is at and ha! Like she'd tell. That's how children get snatched. But it doesn't matter, she can tell the truth, the child is schooled at home. The bitch comments that it seems solitary, lonely, that there are other life skills than books that are learned in the playground and she can stand it no more. She tells the bitch to mind her own business and goes inside. The child can't be allowed outside anymore. The bitch is watching but not for long. She'll pay. She'll learn not to get involved.

“Fourteen twenty-eight,” says Cody faintly. “I need to get them out. Party at fourteen twenty-eight. Pizza to fourteen twenty-eight. That bitch at fourteen twenty-eight, she makes a noise, she keeps a dirty yard, she doesn't belong. We all wish she'd move. You're not welcome, bitch--” He cut himself off, snapping his eyes open and looking at the others. “She had a neighbour that was just a bit too interested in her business, in the child. The neighbour lived at fourteen twenty-eight. I can't get the street name but there can't be that many streets that go up that high, can there?”

Randy didn't look too enthusiastic. “It's a big city, like Ted mentioned. But you're right, there might not be too many. If there's, I dunno, forty, maybe we could drive around them and see if you get any flashes? I can go back for the car.”

Ted rolled his eyes, producing his phone. “That's not exactly how it works. I'm gonna see if I can find out how many houses of that number are in the city – it is a house we're looking for, if there's a yard?”

“Right,” confirmed Cody. 

Ted checked out the internet for a while. “I've got nineteen,” he said in the end. “If I google map them, perhaps you can see if you recognise anything about the neighbourhood?”

“Sure,” agreed Cody, although he wasn't sure – the woman's attention had been on the person, not the yard. But Cody had been able to see a riot of colourful flowers behind the bitch, as she had been called in his vision, and he knew that the yard the owner of the earrings had been in was struggling grass, no flowers that he could see. There had been a low fence separating the two properties, easy enough for even a child to step over. Ted might actually have a good idea. 

Ted started checking out street views of the properties he had found. Cody dismissed the first three outright, they were nothing like what he had seen. The fourth was a shop with other shops on either side, not what he was looking for. The fifth looked vaguely like what he had seen but there was something wrong with it. More came and he either dismissed them or reluctantly agreeing that they might be the place he had seen. 

Until he got to the fourteenth house on the list and his heart leapt into his throat. 

“That's it,” he said, pointing to the small screen, tapping a fingernail against the image of the fence. “That's where I saw her. Those are the flowers behind her and that house has a tree, I didn't see a tree. That must mean that that's the house they were living in.”

Randy leaned in to look at it. “What's the street name and can we walk it?”

“It's six miles from here,” said Ted, checking the map proper instead of the street view. “We'll have to spend a whole lot of time walking or else use your car.”

“I knew I should have driven.” Randy sighed, getting to his feet. “”What say I go back for the car, you two wait for me and I'll pick you up? We'll go see about this place, then we'll grab food. Then we'll tell John we've cracked it and he can make some arrests and start spending his nights with me instead of at his desk.”

“Hopefully,” said Cody, smiling a little. “But you seem to forget, if there's someone living in there we're not exactly likely to be able to just walk in to talk to ghosts.”

Randy shrugged. “Look on the bright side. Maybe she'll come to the window.”

~:~

By the time Randy came back with the car, giving Ted a quick call to tell him he was at the roadside, Cody was rather surprised to find that he and Ted hadn't really discussed what they were planning to do. Ted hadn't asked him if he was sure, the way he had expected. He had simply asked if he was okay after seeing the place and they had gone on to talking about the difference between the two gardens and whether or not they could be bothered to keep one up had either of them had a garden of their own. Cody said he probably wouldn't be able to and Ted admitted he'd pave it over and build a barbecue. “I like the outdoors,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But gardening, I dunno. Looks boring. My mum likes it thought.”

From there they had gone on to the places they had grown up and no matter how reserved he had been at one point, Ted didn't seem to mind telling Cody about the house he had lived in as a child. Cody had only the haziest idea about Ted's parents being filthy rich and was mildly startled when Ted mentioned some of the attributes of his parents’ home. It sounded to Cody like they'd grown up in a mansion. Cody's own descriptions sounded far more modest in comparison. 

The call from Randy summoned them to the car and Randy set the sat-nav and drove off, Ted in the passenger seat and Cody in the back. Cody remained silent while the pair in the front bickered good-naturedly, arguing over the radio, mocking the voice the sat-nav gave instructions in. They seemed comfortable with one another and Cody wondered how long it had taken Randy to get to know Ted that well, to have gained his trust. He thought he was making progress but it was very slow going. And he wanted to get to know Ted better than he did. No matter if Ted was called elsewhere the very next day, he'd like to know a little more about the man and not just for the character in his book. For his own needs. 

It didn't take too long by car to get to where they were going and once there, Randy drove slowly past the house, quiet for once. Cody stared out of the window, taking it in. The flowers were slightly different but he was sure they were the same ones, that was the same fence. The house itself was relatively inviting, not a place he'd look twice at should he be walking past. Just a house in a street full of the same design, differentiated only by paint and the small touches that the owners had added. 

There was a to let sign in the garden.

“Fourteen twenty-six,” he murmured to himself, looking back at the front. Ted didn't seem to have turned to look at the house at all, simply looking through the front window. That struck Cody as a little odd but he didn't comment. 

Randy parked up at the end of the street, perhaps thinking he would attract less attention that way. The moment he stopped Ted climbed out of the car, ignoring Randy's call for him to wait for them. Cody hurried to get out as well, noting that Ted didn't even seem to be acknowledging him. This wasn't like when he had gone back to the park to speak to Dazzle. But then he had already known that she was there. This time, it was as if he didn't realise there was anyone else there at all. 

“Ted?” said Cody hesitantly. “Ted, is everything okay?”

“Mmm,” replied Ted as if he wasn't listening at all, merely acknowledging sound. Cody shut up. He was well aware of how distracting it could be when someone was talking and he was focusing – and he was sure that Ted was as focused on his own gift as Cody had been on his the night before. Behind them Randy was striding to catch up and Cody supposed that Randy was just as aware as he was because the man didn't say a word when he drew level with them at the house. 

Close up, the house didn't seem to have any occupants. Although it was in good repair and someone had been mowing the grass, there was no car and nothing on the windowsills, although there were curtains up. Ted walked up to the house and without seeming at all bothered about the chance perceptions were wrong, tried the door. Locked. Cody let out a relieved sigh, he couldn't imagine having to explain that they weren't dangerous and why they had strolled in as if they had a right to be there. 

Ted didn't seem too bothered, simply tilting his head to one side and then moving off the steps and around the side of the house. Cody followed, wondering if they weren't wasting their time and if they shouldn't call the number on the sign at the front. If they pretended to be interested in renting, maybe they could get the keys and take a look around. If she was anywhere, the girl would be inside where she had died...

And then as they went into the back, Ted paused, then walked over to the back door, sitting on the step and looking intently at a spot where they seemed to be nothing at all. Cody felt a chill, sharing a quick look with Randy. Although it had had seemed a plausible idea for the two of them to work together to find a trail, he hadn't honestly thought that it would work. 

Ted was only vaguely aware that Cody and Randy were still with him and wouldn't have been able to stop himself had they not been. Almost as soon as they had pulled into the street he had felt the presence of a dead person waiting, been drawn to them as he always was. Although there were those that could draw him hundreds of miles, there were others he wasn't aware of until he was very close and this was one of them. But once he was in the street she was like a beacon, he couldn't have ignored her if he'd tried. If he'd happened to walk down the street without any knowledge of her, he still would have had to investigate. It wouldn't have mattered if the house had been occupied and the owners having a barbecue in the back, he still would have had to go in and find her. He had assumed, as Cody had, that if she was anywhere she would be inside but that wasn't true; she was on the back doorstep with her face turned toward the sun. she didn't seem overly interested in Te, giving him a sideways glance and saying nothing at all. 

Ted hated starting the conversations like this, but if he didn't he'd probably be there all day. “Hi there,” he tried.

“Hey,” replied the girl listlessly. 

“You got a name?”

“Theresa.”

“That's nice.”

“It's not my real name,” snapped the girl. “It's just what my parents called me.”

“Right.” Ted was at something of a loss. “What happened to your parents?”

“They moved on real quick.” Theresa shrugged. “My mom said that the woman next door's nothing but a nosy bitch, but I thought she was okay, for an old lady. They couldn't stay though, since she might notice I was gone.”

“How long was it before they went?”

“Less than a week. I don't care. It's nice to have some peace and quiet. My mom never left me in peace. She didn't like me to go out, I wasn't ever allowed out without her. She wouldn't even let me use the bathroom in public places unless she went in the cubicle with me, like I was a baby.”

“How old are you?”

“Nine. Old enough to know how to pee without her watching me. And when the old lady talked to me, I wasn't even allowed in the front garden no more. Only in the back and only when mom could come out and watch me. And at night I used to wake up sometimes and find her watching me. Not always but sometimes and I never knew when she'd be in there or if she'd still be doing it when I was a teenager or something. I'm glad she's gone. It's nice just to be alone.” 

She turned to look at him and Ted hid a shudder. Sometimes, most of the time, the dead retained the looks they'd had in life. Sometimes they didn't. Theresa looked pretty much like any normal child when she was facing away from him but when she turned to look directly at him there was a nasty, bloodied hole in her temple. She reached up to touch it, noting his attention in spite of his attempts to hide it. “He had a statue on the hearth and when I fell, I landed on it. It knocked a hole in my head. It was like, a little soldier? His gun was sticking up and mom was always saying that he should get rid of it before I hurt myself. But it was the first time I did.”

“What are your mom and dads’ names hon?” asked Ted casually. 

“I don't know. You know how most people call each other their names? They call each other mommy and daddy. And then giggle.” Theresa screwed up her nose. “Stupid. The others didn't do that.”

“What others?”

Theresa shrugged. “How can you see me? And who are those guys?”

Ted looked over. “That's Randy and Cody. I can see you because – well, I suppose I'm just able to do it, like some people can draw really well, or sing. It's a talent, I guess.”

“Can they see me?”

“No. But they know you're there, so that's okay. We can still talk.”

“No one else can see me,” said Theresa casually. “I always knew they'd end up getting rid of me one day. I was getting too old. I'm not cute enough any more and they dress me like a little kid. They wanted me to stay a little kid and I couldn't. I knew mom wouldn't like me when I was bigger, she was already being funny with me. She always talked to me like I was a baby. And dad said she could get a littler one. I heard him, after I died. He said she could get a smaller one but she wasn't allowed a baby because they caused trouble and people looked harder for really little kids. When you're a bit older, they don't look so hard. That's what he said. And he's right. No one's come looking for me. I'm not supposed to watch anything but the baby channels but a couple times I've seen bits of TV shows where the cops come and look around your house when you die and they can tell where you died and they can see where your blood used to be. But no one came looking.”

Ted tapped his fingers against his knee. “I want to help you, because I know it's nice out here but you can't just stay here. There's better places for you to go on to.” He wasn't sure about that, but a child wasn't the person to dump a crisis of faith on. “So maybe I can help you leave the yard and find somewhere else nice. Where there's other people, other kids for you to play with. But I need to ask some questions and you might not like all of them. I have a reason for them though. Can you trust me?”

Theresa gave another shrug. “Why should I? I don't even know you.”

“Put it this way then. What can it hurt to trust me? I can't do anything to you, I can't even tell your parents. You know they didn't see you before and they wouldn't believe that I could.”

Theresa thought it over and nodded. “Okay then. But don't be too nosy. I finally got a part of me to myself and I don't want to be sharing it. My mom made me tell her everything and I don't like that. Maybe I don't want to share.”

“If you don't want to tell me something, you just tell me that and you don't have to. Deal?”

Theresa shrugged again and Ted hid a frown, this one was hard work and he had no idea why she was still there when she seemed to already have the space that she wanted. “Okay. Once you fell and hurt your head, what happened? Did you get taken anywhere, to a hospital?”

Theresa snorted. “You can say I died y'know. I know what happened and I'm not a baby.” She shook her head. “And I saw them. They were fighting and they never used to let me watch them fight. Then they went back into the living room where I was and they talked – my mom sat on the floor and stroked my hair the whole time. The me on the floor, not me me. My dad said we'd have to move because someone was gonna realise I wasn't around but we could get a new child. And then they talked about the age and then my mom said she needed a child that needed her. Because I'd needed her when I didn't have a mom. Every child needs a mom, that's what she said. I'm not so sure. I'd like a normal mom who lets me play in the street. Then my dad said he'd take me somewhere and they'd find a new house and they could get a new child. And my mom said maybe she'd like two or three, why could they only have one? She wanted a boy as well as a girl because girls were like dolls and boys never grew out of loving their parents. My dad just said she could have anything she wanted.”

“Do you know where they went, when they left here? Did they mention an address, a house? Even a neighbourhood?”

“I don't remember.” Theresa smiled a little. “I didn't care where they went. All I cared about was that they were gonna leave me in the house all on my own and I could play out whenever I liked, or stay up late, or scream until I was hurting and they'd never be able to stop me. I was glad I was gonna be on my own.”


	9. Chapter Eight: Fried Pasta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After speaking to Theresa, John gets updated on the boys' views on the case, and then the foursome have dinner-- where feelings are undoubtedly blossoming.

“Well, thanks for speaking to me, Theresa,” Ted managed when she finished speaking and he’d gotten over his shock. It was very rare that he met people who were actually happy that they had been killed because they had wanted to escape life. Even rarer that he would find someone as young as her who not only understood what had happened to her in general, but who was still happy about it.

“No problem,” she shrugged, her head shifting in a way that revealed her wound again as he did so, “It’s not as though I speak to many people nowadays.”

“Well,” Ted tried to sound encouraging, “You never know; you may be able to speak to more people soon,” he liked to think people ended up in heaven if they were good in life, once they were at peace, and he didn’t see a reason why a child shouldn’t be able to get into the pearly gates.

“As long as they aren’t like mum and dad I’m fine with it.”

Laughing slightly Ted then nodded and awkwardly made his way back to where Cody and Randy stood. Randy had the same closed and unhappy expression on his face that he always seemed to get when he knew that Ted was talking to the dead, and Cody looked uncertain, biting his lip.

“Let’s go.”

“Is everything OK?” Ted arched a brow and Randy looked uncomfortable and defensive a moment before amending, “Aside from the girl obviously being dead in the house.”

“I--- Let’s just get out of here OK?” he asked.

Cody and Randy exchanged a look before nodding and heading back out onto the street with Ted, the blonde making an immediate beeline for the car and then getting into it. Securing his seatbelt even though he knew they wouldn’t be driving anywhere immediately the blonde then sighed and rested his forehead against the dashboard, the slight pain of the uncomfortable hard surface twistedly soothing in that moment.

Two doors closed moments later as Cody and Randy got into the car.

“So,” Randy started again since Cody seemed reluctant to speak, “She’s there then?”

“Yeah… she’s still there.”

“Do you know what happened to her?”

Ted shuddered as he remembered the bloodied hole in the girl’s head; he hoped that she had died immediately and not suffered from the wound, since he couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable it was.

“A hole in her head… a statue fell on her when she landed against the mantel.”

“So you were right—“Randy turned to Cody, who looked a little ill.

“I didn’t say she had a hole in her head…” he mumbled meekly.

Randy immediately brushed him off, “No, but you did say that she had died hitting her head, and that the man had caused it. Did she confirm that?”

“Yeah,” Ted’s voice still sounded faraway, strained, and Randy wished not for the first time that his friend hadn’t been afflicted with this ability. It seemed unfair to wish it on someone else even so, but he still couldn’t help but think it, “She said she heard them talking about how they were going to replace her once she had passed.”

“How?” Cody voiced a question for the first time before hesitating and then laying a hand on Ted’s shoulder. From the way he had tensed to do so it seemed as though he expected to be shrugged away (something Randy had expected too truth be told; Ted didn’t take well to being touched by many people) but Ted surprised the pair of them by hardly even acknowledging the touch, leading them to wonder whether he was even aware that Cody was touching him at all.

“Well, they could get any child she wanted,” Ted repeated as calmly as possible, though in truth he was pretty damned angry at these people; they treated children like they were some kind of commodity that they could chop and change as of when, not even having a twinge of conscience when something happened to one of them.

First Theresa and then Dazzle… when would it end?

“Who the hell told her that?”

“The guy did. I think he wanted to pacify her as soon as possible and she just accepted his idea.”

“Surely they know it just doesn’t work like that?” Randy asked, and then furrowed his brow as he voiced, “I wonder why they took boys too?”

“Because she wants more than one.”

“Huh?” Cody voiced alongside Randy.

Sighing, Ted scrubbed his hands over his face. Sometimes he wondered what there was to live for when he was constantly being confronted by the shit-pit of humanity the way he was. It was enough to make him want to seek refuge in a padded room where they’d serve him nicely pureed meals three times a day and he’d never have to worry about anything.

“Theresa said that was what she said. Apparently she had always wanted more than one but they had never managed to get them… now they could start over and she could have as many children as she wanted.”

Looking at the non-descript house which had housed such horror Cody shivered; some people, you just didn’t understand how their thought processes worked did you?

“Did she give you her name in full?”

“No… Honestly I don’t think she knows it. She said that they had called her Theresa, but the way she said it made me wonder if she’d been known as something else before they had gotten her.” Ted went to rub a hand on his shoulder and startled when he felt Cody’s resting there, jerking his hand away, “Sorry,” though he had no idea why he was apologising.

“Sorry,” Cody pulled away at the same moment and looked away.

Ordinarily Randy would have played on this moment intensely, but as things stood he had more important things to think about: like whether this news was going to be of any use to John.

Almost as though summoned by Randy’s mere thoughts John’s name suddenly flashed up on the man’s phone display, startling the three men as the buzzing from the dashboard seemed to echo around the car.

“John? What happened?” Randy placed his phone on speaker so that Ted and Cody could hear him as well.

“They got another one.”

All three men closed their eyes, expressions tensing. Cody looked more upset than the other two, but that could just have been because he had been the easiest to read of them since they had first begun interacting with one another.

“Oh John,” Randy sighed, “I’m sorry,” it was clear from his tone that he knew the words would be no comfort to his lover but he offered them anyway.

“It was a little boy again… That makes three girls and three boys each.”

“And two more they’ve already killed,” Ted muttered, more to himself, but John apparently heard it all the same.

“Two dead? What are you talking about?”

“We’ve managed a bit of a breakthrough,” Cody said softly, tone reflecting the hollow victory they had experienced, “We think we’ve got some things to tell you when we can meet with you. Of course if you’re needed there we can always come and see you quickly, but…” time was of the essence on all sides and they could do with John knowing what they knew as soon as possible. If he knew the facts then there was a chance that he would somehow be able to do something to help them get the evidence to prove it.

“What have you found? Did you both do something? Wait, I can come and meet you. Where are you now?”

Reeling off the address Randy then glanced at his watch, “We can meet you back at the house in about fifteen minutes, maybe twenty,” the time of day they were at he sincerely doubted there was going to be much traffic backlogging them as they headed back. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to get away?” he didn’t want Kohn getting into trouble; anything that caused the investigation to stall just meant that there was a greater chance of more kids being in danger of being snatched, or at the hands of their captors should something go wrong.

And they had already proved that they were inexperienced enough in the ways of the criminal abductor that they had accidentally caused the death of one of their intended targets before they could even get her away from the park where they had seen her.

“Yeah that’s fine. I’ll be home when you get there. See you soon.”

Almost as soon as Randy disconnected the call he had started the engine and was gone.

~::~

When they arrived outside of the apartment Ted suddenly looked to Randy and asked, “Can you go in and see John a minute for me? I just need a second.” Randy looked confused and borderline annoyed, the annoyance however clearly not being levelled at Ted.

“What do you mean you want me to go up? You’re the one who spoke to her!”

“Yes, but you’re the one not currently feeling emotionally drained from that interaction,” Ted shot back, apparently causing Randy a moment’s surprise before he reluctantly acknowledged that the other probably did deserve a bit of time to collect himself; he might not have reacted like Cody when he used his gifts, and so sometimes it was easy to forget that he was just as affected by what he could do as what Cody did.

“I get it… try to come up quick OK?”

Cody undid his seatbelt, when suddenly Ted turned around in his seat to look at him. He looked like the same lost little boy that Cody had felt a brief connection with when he’d felt Ted’s watch that first time and tried to get a sense of him. His heart went out to the man; for all he might not have been especially kind to him since they met he had defended him where it counted, and helped him afterwards when he’d been upset, and now he felt as though he owed the other a favour. Of course the way he wanted to comfort him would probably not be a traditionally accepted method by someone… Unless they had indicated that they too liked you in that kind of way.

When did he become such a big pervert?

Or, better yet: since when did men like Ted suddenly come into his life?

“Ted?”

“C-Can you stay?”

“You want me to?”

Ted ducked his head, suddenly looking defensively embarrassed, “It’s stupid I know but—”

“You don’t have to explain,” Cody said softly, “I can stay if you want me to.”

It was strange, not to have to explain every little thing that went through his head or his emotions, because every other time he had to explain everything down to the last molecule and it was just so hard. Nodding he swallowed thickly and then folded his arms before dropping his head into them as they leant against the dash once more. Scooting forward in his seat somewhat Cody then reached a hand forward and awkwardly rubbed Ted’s back as best he could reach from the angle and the distance between them thanks to the layout of the car.

Ted might not have said it, but even Cody could sense that his presence was appreciated by his fellow psychic after everything he had been through that morning.

Was it too early to start drinking?

~::~

“So, you saw her in the garden?”

John was sitting on the three-seater as usual with Randy beside him, Ted pacing up and down on the available floor-space as Cody sat on the two-seater. Nothing more had been said between he and Ted since their moment in the car but he finally felt as though they had reached an understanding with one another, uncaring whether that understanding was temporary or not for the moment since they had other matters to be tending to.

“Yes,” Ted sighed; he appreciated that John needed to go back over the story and get the facts but he had asked him three times now, and he was even writing it down as they went along. Did he think that Ted was magically going to pull new facts out of his ass if he just kept repeating the tale over and over?

Randy sent him a warning look and Ted reminded himself to play nice; it wasn’t as though he could accomplish anything getting shirty with John after all.

“She was in the garden, though as far as I could tell she can get in and out of the house as she chooses to.”

“Right…” John looked deeply troubled and that was understandable; not only did he now have five children still missing, whereabouts and welfare unknown, he also had the knowledge now that another girl had died before one of his six to be snatched. Wait, no, that was incorrect: he had known another had died but now he had proof.

Not proof that would be admissible in court, but proof all the same.

“It was at the house Cody saw; he managed to pick up another scene on the earrings and pinpointed us to it,” Randy supplied to try and help since he could feel the tension picking up again, “And then Ted seemed to just catch onto it as soon as we got there, and when we went into the garden… he was talking to her.”

John nodded, making another note. Cody would have loved to know how much of it was actually being noted down word for word.

“So… She did die getting knocked into the mantel, a statue falling on her head. They moved her body and it was because of her death that they decided to go out and start trying to get more kids? He wanted to make it up to her, and she decided to push the boat out further and asked why they should settle for one kid when she wanted more?”

“I don’t think it was a sudden decision,” Cody said quietly.

“What?” John asked sharply, and even Randy and Ted turned to look at him.

Cody kept his gaze fixed down on his hands, twiddling with his fingers somewhat. He hadn’t really centred on the thought before, but now somewhat had mentioned it he reflected on it, as though it had just occurred to him once again thanks to the prompt.

“I said I don’t think it’s a first time decision.”

“You mean they’ve done this before?” Randy asked sharply.

“No,” Cody responded immediately, struggling for words to describe what he was feeling. Even authors got stumped now and again when it came to being articulate. “I mean… they’ve considered the idea before. It was probably before they got Theresa, and not something they were especially serious about, but it had crossed their minds before… It was only when Theresa died that they appear to have acted on it,” he frowned, “But then again I can’t say for certain that they may not have resorted to taking a child anyway even if she had remained alive…”

“That was very psychiatrist of you, Cody,” there was a hint of a smile playing around Ted’s lips, but it was barely there and clearly half-hearted.

Unsure whether he was being made fun of or not Cody then turned to John, “Don’t you have a criminal profiler? If they told you something along the lines that we have then maybe you can have enough of an excuse to at least check the house. There’s nothing in it… Or get in touch with child services and see what records they have for the house?”

Sighing, John’s shoulders slumped, pencil stopping, “We have a profiler, and we’re already onto child services… I had to pass it off as making it look like I was looking into the latest child of course, but…”

“But now you have the address,” Cody prompted, unsure why John didn’t seem happier.

“Would it help if I called it in as an anonymous tipper? You’d be obligated to check the place then right?”

John looked uncomfortable, “I guess so…”

“Maybe we should do that—”

“It’s not necessary.”

“But you just said—”

“I know what I said,” John held up a hand, “Look, you two have been a great deal of help and I don’t know how I’m ever going to pay you back for this, especially if it all pans out, but at the same time I need you both to take a step back now,” if they tried to get too heavy-handedly involved then they could end up jeopardising the very case that they wanted to help him with.

Neither psychic looked impressed and Randy decided to input before it was too late.

“Babe, you could just say you’d heard whispers about the place before and you just wanted to know if child support knew of any reason why they might be cause for concern?” after all they may know of something on a domestic level, even if no formal complaints had made. And if they could get the name of the couple and the kid subsequently then that was all the better, right?

“I don’t have any other better leads to chase…” John mumbled.

“Way to sound enthusiastic John.”

“Ease off, hey Ted?”

“He’s got a point,” Cody inputted to Randy with a mild level of annoyance, though his face didn’t show anything.

Randy and John exchanged a look; clearly those two would be a very formidable couple should they ever join together. Shaking himself somewhat Randy then looked to John, “Do you want me to drive you back?” it was apparent that he had no desire to let his lover from his sight yet, and admittedly neither Cody and Ted could argue with him on that score: they were sure that they would be exactly the same had they been in their positions.

John looked upset, very visibly so, though the man had clearly been doing his best to hide it since he had been back with them. “Thanks. I’ll catch you two later? We could grab dinner or something.”

Cody immediately stood up, “I don’t want to impose,” he said immediately, “I’ll just head off if you’ve no more use for me.” He didn’t want to become an annoyance to them.

“You know you’re welcome—”

“Yeah, I know, but you don’t have to keep paying for me.”

John looked rueful, “They are about the only expenses I’ll probably be able to get you…”

“It’s really OK.”

“Ted and Randy are cooking.”

“We’re what now?”

~::~

John gave his lover an indulgent smile. “You two are cooking,” he explained calmly. “Cody and I are gonna chill out and then we're gonna give you marks out of ten for whatever you come up with. Have fun.”

“We've been set up,” said Randy gloomily, looking over at Ted. “What can you cook?”

“Uh... beans on toast, scrambled egg on toast, fried egg on toast, cheese on toast and uh, cheese on toast with a fried egg.”

“We're screwed.” Randy sighed theatrically. “Let's see if there's some new and interesting ways that we can give our boys salmonella.”

The two headed into the kitchen and John might have been mistaken but he thought he heard the beginnings of a recrimination for the comment about 'our boys' coming from Ted. He grinned at Cody. “Sit back down, relax. Look, I'm sorry about the leaving things to the police part – I could have put it better.”

“No, I get it.” Cody sat down himself. “I don't often work with the cops to tell the truth, but I get that anything you find out off of me can't really be used in court.”

“It's not the court part I'm worried about, it's the warrant.” John shrugged. “We don't have a name yet, although now we have an address I might be able to look into it. But I have to be sly about it. We have no reason to suspect the people who lived at that house and while I have to chase the leads we do have, I'll have to do investigation into them on the side. I have no reason at all to suspect them other than what you tell me and although I know it's good enough, it won't stand up. Even looking into it looks odd. If we can track them to a new location, then an anonymous tip would come in very handy, but someone who used to live in a house and gave no forwarding address is gonna be pushed to the back of the line. We have so many tips and most of them go nowhere. Some are actively malicious and some are misguided, but we have to check them all and anything vague isn't gonna get much attention. When we get what we need, if we go for the anonymous tip route, I want it to be a good one that we have good reason to follow up on.”

“I understand.” Cody smiled slightly. “It's just frustrating. It's always the same way. I know these things, the way that Ted does as well. And knowing that it's not good enough can really drive you mad.”

“No hard feelings then?”

“Nah.” Cody winked. “I do know how it is, even if I'm not usually working for the cops I have a little experience of it.”

“Yeah? You worked for the cops before?”

“Not exactly. But more than once I've picked up on something from work I've been asked to do and then the person who hired me goes to the cops with it. They want to know how I have the information I have and you say you're psychic and they don't believe you. They think you have something to do with it. I've never been arrested the way Ted has, but I have been looked at pretty closely before now. And as soon as you get somewhere, get believed, there's some lawyer looking into having the evidence thrown out of court and if the tip comes from a psychic then there's enough doubt right there to have the evidence I might have amassed for them dismissed. So I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

John nodded. “I appreciate it. But there's another matter as well and that's these two. There's a seriously unhinged couple at work here and they've already got two bodies to their names that we know about. They won't want to get caught and they won't want to give up the kids. We don't need to put the wind up them, alert them that we know something about them. We need to play this very carefully. Otherwise they could run, or worse. They could harm the kids without meaning to. Or if they think there's a psychic or two on their trail, they might decide to make a move on you or Ted.”

Cody widened his eyes. “You think that's likely?”

“No. But it's a possibility that I can't ignore. I can't say anything for sure but we really do need to take care. I don't know if you've ever been targeted for your abilities but I know that Ted's been led to harm by them before, even if it's not much. People react badly and you've got someone unstable, that chance gets higher. And like I said, they have the upper hand if we approach them directly because they have potential hostages.”

Cody filed away the information that Ted had been hurt because of his abilities, but thinking about what Ted had said about inadvertently confronting the drowned girl's accidental killer, he could see it happening. And could see it explaining some of Ted's reluctance as well. “I wouldn't approach them myself.”

“I know you wouldn't intend to, but I don't know if your ability drags you to people or places. I know that Ted's does though.”

“Ted chases the dead. I think that there's a good chance your other children are alive and well.”

“But no guarantees.” John sighed. “That kills me, knowing what kind of people they are. I can trace the owner of the house tomorrow, hopefully, and find out if it was rented out. If it wasn't then we might just have our kidnappers right there, but I don't know that we're that lucky. They might have used false names, or they might be using them now...”

“But it takes false ID to use a false name on a legal document,” finished Cody. 

“Right.” John rolled his head back. “This is gonna be all over the papers tomorrow. I've already been asked if there's some kind of paedophile ring operating in the city and I can't say that it's not likely because that's giving too much away.”

“But if they're gathering up kids, that many kids, then someone has to notice soon.”

“If they were keeping them out of sight, like Ted said they were with Theresa, then they'd need space.” John narrowed his eyes as he thought. “And now we know they don't like people interfering. What kind of places are there in the city where they can get that level of privacy?”

“There has to be somewhere.” Cody shrugged. “I don't know this city though so I can't help.”

“That's fine,” said John absently and Cody knew that the man's mind was working on some other solution to the problem, turning it over in his mind. Perhaps new children could be explained but so many and so often probably couldn't.”

Ted wandered in from the kitchen, giving them both a brief smile. “Be about twenty minutes, that okay?”

“Sure,” said John. “What're we having?”

“Pasta,” replied Ted. “You both like pasta, right? It seemed safe enough and easy. It's taking forever to fry up though.” 

He went back to the kitchen, leaving Cody looking comically terrified. “Did he just say fried?”

“I think he's just joking,” said John with a grin. “Randy does most of the cooking while I'm working so he knows what he's doing, even if Ted doesn't.”

“Right,” said Cody, his voice getting just a touch too casual. “Didn't you say that you'd only met Ted the same day that I did?”

“The day before,” replied John, as if he wasn't paying too much attention. But he was trained to notice the way people spoke, the little things that gave away what they were really thinking and he thought Cody sounded far too nonchalant to really be making mere small talk. He wanted to know and he didn't want John to know he was interested. That was intriguing. “He and Randy have been friends forever though.”

“So I understand.” Cody leaned back, not a bad actor but John by this time was looking for the signs. “He never told you what Ted could do?”

“No. There's reasons for that, mostly though that he didn't want to talk out of school. Ted doesn't like people to know unless it's his choice to tell.”

“I can sympathise,” said Cody, quite honestly. “It's hard work to explain to people all the time. So, uh...” He sprawled over the couch far too languidly. “If he travels all the time and doesn't have a steady place to live, then I guess he's not got a girlfriend sat at home, huh?”

John almost laughed. Cody was just no good at subterfuge. Not to mention he was pretty sure that he already knew that Ted had no girlfriend. But he was fishing for details and John thought perhaps he should give them. He'd never met anyone with the same aura of solitude that Ted had and the two of them had gotten close in a hurry; he couldn't say he had the same rapport with Ted, who seemed to trust and like him well enough but still treated him with a guarded politeness rather than as a genuine friend.

“He's not a ladies man,” he said, pretending he didn't see the way that Cody's eyes suddenly lit up, although his facial expression didn't change at all. “But there's no partner.” Should he go a little further? Why not? “Randy was talking about asking Ted to make here the base of his operations – Ted tends to just hang around whatever town he finds himself in until he gets called away and that's no good for putting down roots, or making any kind of relationship with anyone. Once all this is done with, he's gonna put the idea to him.”

“Sleeping on your couch?”

“Well, we were thinking he'd get an apartment and then if he did get called away for awhile we'd be around to water his plants or feed his cat.”

“Cat?” Cody wrinkled his nose. “I'm pretty sure Ted's more of a dog person.”

“Randy can walk it then. I'm not hauling my ass across town on my lunch break to scoop poop for some crotch-sniffer.”

Cody laughed. “You don't know what you're missing.”

“Sure I do. Scooping poop.”

“I mean owning a dog. They're awesome, good company and affectionate...” Cody gave a little smile and John decided that Cody had given away more than he intended to; Cody apparently needed the company. “My dog died last year and I'm thinking of getting a new one pretty soon, but I haven't quite found the right time. Or the right dog. Gotta be something I can keep in my building but something I can love as well.”

Ted walked out of the kitchen again during the end of the sentence and looked puzzled. John saw him and grinned. “We're talking dogs.”

Ted's eyes lit up, much as Cody's had when he had found out the blonde was single. “I love dogs. I'd like to have one of my own but I travel around too much, y'know? You and Randy thinking of getting one?”

“Hell, no. But Cody's a dog lover and he's considering it.”

“What kind?” asked Ted and John smiled to himself as Cody started in on the restrictions he worked under and the various breeds he preferred. Before long the two men were in deep conversation about something they both clearly cared for and knew a lot about, something that John thought was healthy – they needed to have more in common than being psychic if what Randy had not-so-secretly hoped was ever going to have a chance. John had been dubious about any chance of that, but watching the two of them talking animatedly and laughing together, he reconsidered. Not only had they been a formidable team working together but watching them chat showed that they had something outside of that as well.

~::~

Randy poked his head around the kitchen door and arched a brow when he noted the animated conversation that Cody and Ted appeared to be having; when he’d sent the other to set the table he somehow thought he’d gotten lost because it had taken so long, and he’d come to see what the holdup was… well, now he knew. Catching John’s eye he grinned slightly and then turned his attention back to the pair.

“Oi, DiBiase, stop trying to shirk off dinner duty!”

Ted paused and then looked sheepishly at Randy, “I wasn’t shirking…”

“They’re talking about dogs,” John offered.

“Dogs?”

“You know Randy,” Cody smiled innocently although there was a light in his blue eyes that hadn’t been there before and he didn’t doubt for a moment that conversing with Ted was the cause of it, “Those things that have four legs, can be huge or tiny, with waggy tails and—”

“Lots of poop to scoop,” John added with a grin.

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that,” Randy chuckled, though honestly he did like dogs. His parents had had one when he was a kid and he’d been very fond of it, and though job-wise he was probably around enough that the dog didn’t get lonely, he just didn’t think a little apartment was the place to house one. Maybe sometime down the line when he and John had retired off to some little place away from the main melee of the city where they had the time to waste taking the pooch for a long meander… or a cat, cats didn’t require walking, though they were a pain in the ass when they brought home dead animals for you as presents. Couldn’t they learn how to raid Argos or something instead?

“You two really don’t know what you’re missing,” Cody insisted.

“We’ll take your word for it. Teddy, get in here and help me dish up.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

As Ted headed back towards the kitchen he glanced back once, and when he turned away Cody was the one looking after him. In a way John couldn’t help but groan that there did indeed seem to be something there; Randy would once again retain bragging rights that he had noticed something John hadn’t, and John was the one who was supposed to read people for a living.

~::~

“I can walk you back.”

“I think I can manage. Thanks for dinner.”

“It’s no problem… though if you spend the rest of the night tossing your cookies all over the hotel bathroom I’m real sorry.”

Cody chuckled and finished buttoning up his coat, “I think I’ll be fine; you and Randy cook better than you think.”

Ted smiled slightly back, rubbing a hand over the back of his head. John and Randy were in the kitchen taking care of clean-up, which meant that he’d been alone when Cody had suddenly said that he should probably think about getting back. Time had passed later that Ted had realised and he was even more surprised to find that he couldn’t remember the last time that he had been so engaged with someone in conversation that he’d lost track of time and notice of everything that wasn’t to do with their conversation.

“Uh, be careful on your way back huh?” Ted asked.

Recalling what John had mentioned before Cody felt an unfamiliar shiver, but then smiled reassuringly at Ted. “Honest, I’ll be careful,” and he was notorious for making a hell of a lot of noise when he thought he was in trouble. It was how his neighbours had known to call the fire-department in advance when some faulty electrical appliance had started a fire in his apartment way back when he’d moved into his first place before his career had gotten going; he’d broken his leg in a stupid accident at the time and was so not exactly in a position to do anything about it himself at the time.

“I,” Cody hesitated a moment before seeming to steel himself and continuing, “I could text you?”

Ted was confused momentarily before realising that Cody couldn’t indeed just do that anyway; in the few days they had been spending time together and impromptu working together he hadn’t thought to give the other his mobile number. In the back of his mind there was a voice that insisted he was crossing a dangerous line should he give his contact number to Cody, but the greater part of him maintained that it was probably a good idea at the end of the day. What if something happened and Cody couldn’t reach John or Randy for something important? What if something happened and they needed to exchange info? Or… what if Cody just wanted someone to talk to? Shaking away the unnervingly sentimental thought Ted then smiled, “Sure.”

A slow smile was given in response (Cody had thought given the length of time it took Ted to respond, and the expressions flitting across his face, that the other had just merely been considering a way to refuse him without offending him) as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Opening his contacts and adding a new slot Cody then handed over his phone to Ted who surveyed it with almost amused eyes.

“Somehow I pictured you as an up-to-date kind of phone person.”

“Me? Oh no—“Cody chuckled, “I’m terrible with phones past calling and texting; usually it’s only my games consoles that keep up to date with the trends.”

Handing Cody’s phone back once he had taken the other’s number from it once he’d inputted his own Ted then arched a brow, “You game?”

“You don’t?”

“Not often.”

“Jeez,” Cody laughed, “What did you spend your childhood doing?”

It was on the tip of Ted’s tongue to tell Cody that the other should have known full well what he spent most of his time doing, but he caught himself in time; that was obviously what Cody was implying, and he didn’t feel like being a mood-wrecker for once, picking fights to make himself feel better. Honestly, the more time he spent around Cody the less time he wanted to fight with him, although there was still something there that made him feel quite nervous around him, but not in the typical sense… Ted couldn’t put his finger on it, but funnily enough that thought bothered him less than it had only the day before.

“Playing sports, going down the lake and swimming…”

“You’re looking really good for someone born in the forties.”

At first the jibe didn’t register with Ted but when he got it he chuckled and swatted at Cody’s arm lightly, “You’ve got some cheek.”

“It’s what makes me so cute,” Cody said blithely before turning to the door and opening it, stepping outside of the apartment. “I know I already said goodnight, and thanks, but would you mind telling them again for me?” he asked.

“Sure, no problem.”

“Thanks,” Cody smiled, pretending not to realise that he was lingering on the doorstep, it not really registering in his mind that Ted was doing exactly the same thing, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Noses to the grind and all that,” Ted nodded before waving him goodbye.

Cody waved back and then started down the stairs leading from John and Randy’s floor down to the ground floor and therefore the exit.

Sighing softly when Cody was out of sight Ted almost went sprawling out of the door when Randy suddenly appeared beside him, “You know, mooning’s only acceptable when you’re a sixteen year-old girl.”

Ted’s cheeks bloomed red as he pushed Randy inside, “I am not mooning!” he insisted, shutting the door behind himself and locking it, since neither Randy nor John should be going out again that evening.

~::~

He didn’t remember it taking so long to get to his hotel last time he’d left John and Randy’s…

Cody frowned softly to himself, hands pressed deep into his coat pockets as he looked around. The streets seemed familiar, but then that could have been because all of the streets of the city he’d passed so far all looked the same for the main part. This was embarrassing, how had he gotten lost? Even as he asked the question of himself though Cody knew how he’d done what he had: when he was thinking deeply about things he had a tendency to block out the world around him, leading to him ending up wandering into no-man’s-land more often than not.

And it appeared he’d done it again… Except this wasn’t a no-man’s-land as he usually knew it.

For one thing he knew the place he was currently standing in.

The skate-park where Dazzle had been murdered.

A cold shiver that had nothing to do with the cooling air of the evening ran down Cody’s spine as he found himself moving further into the park instead of away, wondering if Dazzle was there, watching him, and finding it incredibly unnerving that she could be even though he immediately felt horrible for being creeped out by her; it wasn’t as though she had chosen to be killed and her spirit trapped in the confines of the park…

“Hi Dazzle,” he murmured softly, keeping his voice down even though the park was empty and there was no one around to hear him.

Wandering aimlessly around the park Cody absently reached out with his abilities, touching the main part of the fence, and occasional trees that appeared to be frequently climbed-on by park visitors, but nothing seemed to work. Dimly, Cody was aware that it was getting pretty dark now and that he should head back to his hotel-room, but something was compelling him to stay. It wasn’t anything like he had ever felt before and it was a feeling he found himself second-guessing.

He felt so tired all of a sudden…

“Just have a little bit more, there’s a good girl…”

“I’m not thirsty anymore—”

“Is there a problem here, ma’am? Hey, Dizzie, are you OK?”

“M’not--- Dizzie—”

“Yes, she’s fine! Just not feeling too well today, that’s all!”

“Alright, if you’re sure…”

Cody found himself managing sleep that night, although the sleep was restless and fractured, his subconscious haunted by fragments of conversations that he himself had never actually had any part of.


	10. Chapter Nine: Chance For A Dinner Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody finds a surprise witness who may give John the help he needs to jump-start his case, and Ted gets his own surprise when he confronts Cody about his 'investigative work'.

Cody woke early again, his mind immediately on the dead and the missing, and on Ted – the blonde had been in his dreams too, tangled up with thoughts of parks and poison and burial places that he couldn't find. He was tired, ready to go back to sleep right away but his mind was too full and he ended up watching the ceiling, trying to find a way to put it aside for a while. He couldn't. He didn't usually follow any of his jobs through for so long, usually he did what he could and left. And while there was every chance that he wouldn't be able to be able to help any further, he didn't really want to leave. He needed to know that he had done all that he could to find the missing children – and in any case, there was Ted. With the psychic thing but aside, he had found the blonde to be witty, funny and smart. He held Cody's interest like few others did and Cody had actually managed to think of something other than the thing that had brought him to St Louis. 

He wasn't there for romance of course, but if he could find a way past Ted's reserve, and get from Randy's amused watchfulness, then maybe he could... stammer a little and chicken out of asking Ted to dinner? Well, maybe he could hint. Right, and Ted didn't seem to have much experience asking anyone out either, if he left it to Ted he'd probably be back home and Ted would be on some bus heading for the next dead person calling to him. And then their communication would dwindle to the occasional text and even that would be weird after a while. 

No, he had to do it and he didn't have long. 

Sighing, he tried to get his mind off Ted, only for it to go on the other topic at the forefront of his mind; the missing children. If two of them were dead, then where the hell were the bodies? And where were the children who were still alive?

That moment at the park last night had been... strange. He had never gotten an image from not touching something before, he didn't always get something when he was touching an item or less often, a person. But the glimmers of conversation had the air of fact about them, rather than his own fancies. 

Maybe Dazzle had been touching him. 

Great. Now he was definitely not going back to sleep. Possibly for days. He pitied the child but there was something unnerving about thinking that he might have been touched by a dead person. 

It was hardly likely, he comforted himself as he swung his legs of the bed, running his hand through his hair. But the idea was unnerving enough to linger with him a while and he went back over what he had heard. None of it was anything new really...

He blinked a couple of times. The kid. Of course, Dazzle had mentioned some child that she had been watching and John had never said the boy had come forward. Probably he hadn't, because from what Cody had heard the boy had spoken to them but they hadn't suspected a woman had been involved until he had raised the idea and Ted had confirmed it. If the boy had come forward, they would have known that Dazzle was off with a woman. 

He checked his watch. John was probably already at the station and he had told Cody to take a step back, keep his nose out for the moment. But if there was something that he could do, then he owed it to Dazzle to do it. And it wasn't as if John could do it, he'd have to be acting on fresh evidence which Cody knew very well he didn't have. And they would be looking into the new disappearance, not Dazzle's. 

Mind made up, Cody headed for the shower. 

~:~

Dylan knew he was probably kicking some kind of teenage trend, being awake early on a weekend, but he didn't see much point in sleeping in 'til lunch. It wasn't as if they got to stay out all night and although talking on the X-Box while killing zombies was all well and good, he could only muster up a certain amount of enthusiasm for it, especially since they'd completed the game ages ago and the sequel wouldn't be out for months. But taking advantage of the early start was always a good thing – for one thing, he managed to get the skate park all to himself and aside from the occasional dog walker or harassed mother with small children in tow on their way to the play area. That gave him the chance to practice his new stuff, with no one to laugh if he screwed up. When the others arrived they would have missed the best part of the day and he would stick to doing the stuff he'd already perfected. 

Except when he got there he wasn't going to be alone – although he didn't think he had much to be concerned about. There was a man sitting in the bench nearby, a laptop on his knee and typing rapidly. Dylan watched his fingers dance for a moment in fascination, he himself could never get much beyond two fingers and a lot of spelling errors, then flipped his board up and crossed the grass to get to the quarter-pipe. One day, he told himself, he was going to become the best, the kind of skater who'd have his own youtube channel with a thousand hits a day and then do the competitions, get the sponsorships, the video games, be the next Tony Hawk. But to do that, he had to get good. 

He wondered for a few minutes what the guy on the bench was doing but when he glanced over, the man was engrossed in whatever he was writing. Probably he was working in the relatively decent weather, getting some peace from the wife and kids and wasn't doing anything very exciting at all. Then it went from his mind as he went to practising, ignoring everything but pulling off his tricks perfectly. 

He was only brought back to the moment maybe forty minutes later when he'd pulled of the most perfect flip at the top of the pipe and landed without falling on his face; he heard someone clapping and stopped the board, startled. The man who'd been formerly sitting on the bench had approached and was giving Dylan what seemed like a genuine show of appreciation. Not sure of what to do, Dylan gave a slightly jokey bow and a wave. 

The man seemed to realise what he was doing and dropped his hands. “Sorry,” he said, flashing Dylan a quick smile. “I didn't mean to startle you, but I was really impressed.”

“Thanks.” Dylan looked around and saw the man had his laptop in a bag over his arm. He gestured to it. “I don't suppose you're a reporter, are you?”

“Sorry.” The man smiled, indicating the computer bag. “I'm a writer, I'm visiting friends and I just wanted to uh, get away from it all for a while and maybe get something done before my deadline.” He paused. “Are you going pro?”

Dylan puffed his chest out. “Hoping to, I'm heading for some competitions once school finally lets out.” He tilted his head to examine the man more closely. “You skate?”

“Me?” The man almost choked on his own laughter. “Hell no! I can barely stand on the ground, let alone on a skateboard. And I'm getting too old for it now.”

“Oh come on grandpa, I'll bet that you can at least zoom across the ground without breaking a hip.” Dylan chuckled, offering his skateboard to the man, who put a hand on it to push it back to him. 

“I don't--”

The man stopped dead, a strange expression on his face. Dylan watched him, suddenly realising that he was alone with this man, he knew nothing at all about him and although he had seemed so friendly, he was being weird...

And then the expression was gone and the man was blinking, shoving the skateboard toward Dylan as if he couldn't stand to touch it. “You've not been to the cops?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Dylan said quickly, his heart starting to pound. 

“You were talking to Dazzle right here,” said the man, eyes boring into Dylan. “You saw her that day and you didn't say--”

“I didn't know!” Truth was, Dylan had no idea how this man knew either but clearly he did and all he was concerned about was getting himself out of trouble. “I didn't come back here for a few days, I was grounded for getting a D on my history paper and no one said it was her! I don't read the papers, I just heard some stuff from people. And then it was like a week later and – and I figured the cops would already have been told by someone, someone else had to see her with that lady. It couldn't have just been me! They already know and there was something happened last year, my mom said if she ever caught me in trouble with the cops again I'd be in real trouble!”

The man nodded slowly. “I get that you were scared. But so was Dazzle, and you might know something that no one else does. It'd help if you told the cops what you know. You're not gonna get into trouble with your mom, she seems reasonable enough about these kinds of things. Like when you thought you were in real trouble for shoplifting that time when you just forgot to pay and nearly cried when you went to tell her about it? She'll know that you weren't looking for trouble, or involved in it. But you have to tell the cops about seeing the woman or they might never know who was with her that day.”

“How did you know...?” It didn't really matter. Dylan was beyond freaked out now. “I really didn't know she was the one missing! How can nobody else have seen? Someone will have told--”

“No one else saw, no one told. You have to be the one to do this.” The man smiled. “Look, just say that they repeated the details of the missing in the paper this morning, now there's another one missing, and it jogged your memory.”

“Another one--”

“There's a lot of kids going missing. You might be the one with the key to finding them.” The man managed another smile but it looked rather wan. “Go. Tell them. You might even be the hero. And you liked her. Don't you owe her?”

“Ah, she was just some spazz kid, but she sure liked watching me skate.” He sighed. “I suppose I can say what I saw. It's probably gonna be useless though, you know that?”

“It's something. And she needs to be found.” The man patted him rather awkwardly on the arm. “You're a good kid Dylan. Make sure they know.” 

The man turned and walked away, hitching the laptop bag further on to his shoulder. Dylan watched him go, too spooked to even think about returning to skating. Yeah, so he'd seen that kid with a woman once and he'd assumed it was her mother but when he'd finally realised that the girl was missing it had been over a week and it had been even longer before it occurred to him that what he'd seen might be significant. But he had never told anyone so how had this man known? The moment he'd batted away the skateboard, it was as if he knew all his secrets, that one, the one about him accidentally walking out of the shop with stuff he hadn't paid for... his name. Dylan knew he hadn't told the man his name but he still knew it. 

He decided that he might be best telling what he'd seen that day. If he didn't, this man who knew all about him might come back with still more of his life history to shame him into it. But he thought that the man himself might be just another thing he didn't tell to anyone at all. 

~:~

Ted didn't know why he did it, other than it seemed like the kind thing to do. There were times that he couldn't do a thing to help the dead right away and so he tended to go back, just to let them know he hadn't forgotten and he was doing what he could. Five or ten minutes of his time could make a difference and he had lost count of the number of times they had expressed relief they had not been abandoned and he was doing his best. The dead were just as understanding as they had been in life, which meant some of them were patient and some of them pouted about it, but he did it anyway. Hope was important to everyone, even when the only hope was the uncertainty of what happened next. 

He had the feeling though that Theresa wouldn't welcome his presence. She didn't seem to be terribly worried about going on to where ever it was that the dead went to when he had dealt with the situation that trapped them and it seemed that she was liking the solitude. He would let her alone. But Dazzle wasn't at all like Theresa, she seemed bored and he thought ten minutes or so wouldn't hurt anything. Randy was still in bed, while John had taken off before Ted had even woken up. The walk would do him good and the few minutes with Dazzle would ease his own mind as well as hers. 

There were two boys on the park, skating rather poorly on the park. Dazzle was sitting on the bench watching them and shouting the occasional insult whenever they made some mistake. Ted grinned, taking out his phone. He had learned some of the tricks that made him seem less weird to the normals and if he looked like he was having a conversation on the phone then the skateboarders would think things were fine and there wasn't some strange man having a chat with thin air. 

“Hi Ted,” chirped Dazzle with a smile as he got closer. “Who're you talking to?”

“You,” he said with a smile of his own. “We don't want those boys over there calling the men in the white coats though, do we?”

“Nuh-uh.” Dazzle looked over at the boys. “They're rubbish. The boy who's really good, he was here before. Except he was barely here any time at all before your friend scared him off.”

Ted blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You're excused. Did you fart?”

“No, I mean – what friend?”

“The one with the black hair, not the other one. He was here last night as well, but he didn't stay. And then this morning he was here talking to the boy.”

Ted frowned, managing somehow to stop himself putting the phone down and talking to her properly. “Did you hear what they were talking about?”

“Sure. I was sneaking in since they don't know I'm there. Your friend, uh...”

“Cody?”

“Cody, right. Cody said that he knew the boy had seen the lady that gave me the lemonade and he needed to tell someone so that they knew who to look for. I think he was scared.”

“But how could he know it was the right...” Ted tapped his fingers against his knee. “Did Cody touch him, or any of his stuff?”

“Not 'til the end, he kinda patted his arm.”

“Nothing before that?”

“Uh, he touched the skateboard I think. The boy was trying to get him to ride it. Why? Does he have weird powers too? Like on TV?”

“I'd hardly call it a power, but yes. He can see things about people if he touches something they own.”

“Oh.” Dazzle smiled. “He's nice. He's hot.”

“Dazzle!” Ted spluttered slightly. “What are you, seven? Should you be noticing boys at your age?”

“Well, duh. Anyway, I'm more mature than other girls.” This with a toss of her hair. “I mean, he'd be hotter if he could skate but I could teach him. Or I could've taught him. I mean, you're hot too but I like black haired boys. They're rebellious.”

“I think nature gave Cody that hair,” said Ted dryly. “And uh, Cody might be a little old for you.”

“Well, it doesn't matter now. But I can look, right?” Dazzle gave him a sly look. “Anyway, I think he likes other boys, like my friends uncle. I saw him watching your butt!”

“Dazzle!”

“He was! I think he likes you!” Dazzle started to giggle. “Ted and Cody sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G--”

Ted groaned, covering his face. He was getting romantic advice from a dead seven year old. He'd hit a new low.

“Can we please change the subject?”

Dazzle rolled her eyes. “I think you need to take him to dinner and buy him flowers and chocolates and go to the cinema.”

“I'm working on finding out who took you,” said Ted, a low trick but anything to get the subject from dating Cody. 

“I know.” Dazzle sighed, looking at her feet. “Cody is too. He said hi to me, but he wasn't looking at me since he can't see me. But he said hi. I trust him. So should you. He knew who saw me and maybe now the police will find her and I'll go to heaven.” She screwed her nose up. “I never believed in that stuff before, but now it seems a lot more likely.”

“I suppose it does.” Ted felt a little like crying at the thought of a child having to deal with this crap. It was bad enough when it was adult going through it. 

“The police will listen to the eye witness and not to the psychic,” said Dazzle knowledgeably. “I saw it on the TV. So now they'll know and maybe I won't be here the next time you come. It was nice to meet you Ted. Say hi to Cody for me. And your other friend too. Thanks for helping me. Thanks for seeing me.”

“It's okay,” replied Ted, although he had the feeling it wasn't going to be as simple as the kid walking into the police station and telling them there was a woman involved. And when he walked from the park, he recalled the warning John had given them not to get any deeper involved. 

You might just get us all into trouble Codes, thought Ted as he shoved his hands in his pockets. If he finds out you were involved, John is going to be pissed. 

~::~

Dylan looked at his mother, “I can’t do this,” he whispered. For once he didn’t care about her seeing him as ‘her baby boy’ because right then he wished he was too young to have to go through this. Sure, he didn’t have to but after what the guy had said… He’d been right by the way; his mum had been shocked but wholly supportive of him. The guilt he’d felt about not coming forward sooner had only been compounded by the fact that she had told him how proud she was of him being brave enough to come forward and help at such an important time.

“You can do this hun,” she rubbed his shoulder and then wrapped an arm around them, guiding him towards the main desk.

A surprisingly built and tall blonde woman approached the desk, smiling down at him kindly but with guarded eyes; she didn’t look like a lady he’d want to mess with. Not that he messed with ladies; his mother would kick his ass righteous, he’d been raised better.

“Can I help you?”

“Go on Dylan.”

“Uh,” his mouth felt wretchedly dry and he swallowed thickly, hoping to make it ease off, “I have uh, some uh, y’know, information for… uh, the person in charge of the uh, investigation,” he stammered.

The lady (Beth, her name-tag supplied on closer inspection) seemed indulgent of his blundering as though she was more than used to it, “What investigation, Dylan?”

He almost asked her how she knew his name (he wasn’t famous yet after all) when he recalled that his mother had already used his name before her. Flushing and scuffing his trainer-clad foot against the ground he mumbled, “The one about the missing kids.”

Beth’s eyes widened then, seconds later she was dialling on a phone and speaking abruptly into it, “Shall I send them up? OK, right away.” She then placed the phone down and smiled at them again, this time in a more reassuring manner before she handed them both pin on badges that had VISITORS emblazoned across them. “If you could go on up to the third floor, Detective Cena is waiting for you.”

“Cena?” his mother repeated.

“Yes ma’am. Don’t worry; he’s a very good detective, and I think he’ll find Dylan’s information highly valuable.”

Dylan’s mother looked a little uncertain before then nodding and taking his hand. For a moment Dylan wanted to cling to it and never let go, but then he realised that that would probably look undoubtedly wimpy to all of the cops around and so he wriggled his hand free as lightly as possible so as not to offend his mother. She merely let it go this time around--- she probably figured out his thought-process anyway; she had weird powers like that, he swore.

The lift ride took very little time, and Dylan contemplated pressing several buttons at once so they had no choice but to ride several floors before coming back. Maybe by that time he’d feel more up to talking with people.

When the doors opened the first thing Dylan noticed was that although there weren’t that many people around, those that were seemed very busy. There were huge, messy stacks of paper everywhere and folders even bigger than the ones he’d seen his teachers carrying around school. When the door to an office across the way opened, Dylan’s jaw dropped slightly at the size of the guy who walked out; he had to have been some kind of body-builder, shoulders like those couldn’t be entirely natural.

Feeling his mother fidget next to him Dylan almost groaned; why did she choose now of all times to decide to get a crush on a cop?

“Dylan?” the man asked, smiling warmly as he extended a large hand.

“Y-Yeah,” he said, cursing the way he stammered.

“I understand you have something you’d like to talk to me about?”

“Yes sir.”

“Come on through then.” He paused, apparently just noticing his mother and offered a slight salute, “Detective Cena ma’am, thank you for bringing him here today. Any help we can get if of the utmost importance.”

Twittering and giggling, his mother assured him it was no problem but that he was the one who had decided to come.

Once they were inside of the office, Detective (Detective-Inspector, according to the nameplate on his desk, but Dylan supposed introducing yourself as that all the time could get damned annoying) Cena indicated for them to sat down and asked whether he could get either of them a drink before they began.

“We have coffee, juice, milkshakes…”

“Milkshakes?” Dylan asked in disbelief and Cena chuckled ruefully, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

“One our lab technicians is pretty hooked on the stuff; if I ask I’m pretty sure he can spare one.”

“A milkshake would be cool, thanks.”

“I’ll take a coffee please if it’s not too much trouble, cream and sugar.”

“No problem, sit right there.”

He was gone for perhaps five minutes before he came back carrying two mugs and a milkshake. Chocolate; how did he know that was Dylan’s favourite kind?

“Sorry about the wait,” he handed them their drinks and then returned to sit behind his desk with his own, “The coffee-machine was acting up again, damned thing.” He took a sip of his coffee and then reached for a yellow note-pad that Dylan recognised as the type they used in the cop shows, before grabbing a pen and scribbling down a date and his name.

“Uh, do you need to put my name down sir?” he asked concernedly.

“Feel free to call me John, Dylan; calling me sir makes me think my dad’s just walked in,” Dylan managed a little laugh as his mother tittered, his expression sobering though as he added, “I just need to have your name down so I can report it to the DA and my superiors, but we can waive using your actual name in trial if it comes down to it. Would you prefer an alias?”

“Yes please,” he said immediately.

“Alright… What’s the alias gonna be? You can choose,” obviously he was trying to make him feel better.

“Tony Hawks,” he responded immediately.

“You skateboard?” John asked.

Dylan smiled tentatively, and then sighed when he realised he couldn’t keep procrastinating.

“Um… the little girl in the skatepark?” he started, seeing John’s eyes widen a fraction before he schooled his expression, “I… I saw her, with a lady in the park, before…” before it had come out on the news that she had indeed gone missing, and now he was pretty damned sure she was dead. He hadn’t been sure when he’d seen the woman carrying her from the park, but now, after what the man in the park had said to him, he was sure.

“You saw her with a woman?”

“Yes sir. She gave her a drink, she,” he lowered his eyes guiltily, “She told me she was her mum, when she started to look sick, y’know? I knew Dazzle lived around the park but I didn’t know where, or who her parents were…” he trailed off and sniffed; though there was realistically little he could have done he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

“It’s OK Dylan,” John murmured softly, “There was nothing you could have done for her once she’d had the lemonade.”

“They poisoned her?” Dylan’s mother gasped and John seemed to realise he’d said a bit much.

“I do hope you understand that anything said in here must be kept in here, and not repeated outside,” he said, wholly serious, “If this gets out then our investigation might be compromised and the people responsible may never be brought to justice.”

Mother and son hastily assured that they knew when to keep something to themselves and John nodded.

“Ok…” John looked down at the notes he’d made, having Dylan go back through his day on the day he’d seen Dazzle and the woman as closely to certain as he could. Once they had gone over that part three or four times John finally asked, “Do you think you could have a go at trying to make a composite sketch for us?”

“One of those pictures you show on TV?” he asked, uncertain.

“That’s the one. You just describe the woman as well as you can, and our sketch artist will draw what you say, and then if something is right or wrong you can change it. There’s no pressure but it might provide us with a way of getting someone to identify her.”

“I can try.”

“You’re a good lad Dylan,” John said, placing his pencil down and standing up, “If you’d both follow me this shouldn’t take long and then you can both be on your way.”

The sketch-artist was a slightly coloured man with a very young looking face and bright smile called Justin. He had a hint of an accent, and when Dylan had asked curiously if he was American (ignoring his mother’s small sound of annoyance to shush him) the man had merely laughed and said that he was from South Africa. Dylan had never met anyone from South Africa before, and he was pretty impressed with the notion.

“So Dylan, just take it a step at a time, yeah? Describe her.”

John had to personally admit that the resemblance was uncanny even though Cody and Ted hadn’t been able to provide him with any concrete details; dark hair, curled, voluptuous, big earrings (almost exact to the ones Cody had found in the bin) with dark eyes and a few lines around her eyes and mouth indicating that she was either not quite as young as she portrayed herself, or she’d had some hardships in her life that had aged her prematurely.

Your adopted daughter being killed in front of you could probably do that, John thought grimly as he watched Dylan and his mother heading off, waving to them as they vanished into the lift and then headed downstairs once more.

Sighing, John looked down at the composite, and then back to Justin, “Could you pass this through to media relations for me?”

“Sure thing John, I’ll have it over there in a jiffy.”

~::~

 

Cody’s eyes widened when the message from Ted suddenly popped up on his phone. Ted was here? Now? Cody looked around frantically even though the room was pretty much orderly and there was no dirty underwear lying on the floor to embarrass him. What was Ted doing there? They hadn’t arranged to meet up had they?

 

Cody didn’t realised just how close Ted had been to the hotel until he jumped when someone knocked politely, but loudly, on the door.

Glancing at himself in the mirror Cody messed with his hair nervously a moment and smoothed imaginary creases and lint from his clothing before finally convincing himself to open the door. Lo and behold, there stood Ted on the threshold to his room.

“Ted?”

“You were expecting someone else?”

“No, no… I just wasn’t expecting you either,” he admitted, stepping back to let Ted in.

“Yeah, well, let’s just say I heard something that had me needing to come see you.”

Sadly Cody didn’t think that that need was the kind that he had Ted feeling for him in his dreams.

“What’s up?”

“I saw Dazzle again today,” Ted’s eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed Cody’s lips twitch, not in a smile or frown, but in a tense expression that said he knew he’d been caught out somewhere along the line, “She told me the boy she liked to watch skateboard was there today. But, apparently, he hadn’t been alone.”

“Oh?”

Ted frowned; he didn’t appreciate being taken for a mug, especially when he knew Cody knew exactly what he was talking about.

“She said he was talking to someone. Dark haired, a friend of mine, coincidentally enough,” Ted left out the part where Dazzle had told him she thought Cody was hot, or that Cody had apparently been ‘looking at his butt’ and continued relentlessly, “Apparently he’d been there last night too, had said hello to her. She said obviously he didn’t say it to her because he couldn’t see her, but she heard him all the same—”

“OK, OK!” Cody held his hands up and sighed, “I was at the park last night.”

“Why?” Ted demanded, “All kinds of people hang out in parks at night you know?”

“I wasn’t there long,” Cody said defensively, though a funny feeling started in the pit of his stomach that Ted could be so annoyed with him over putting his safety on the line even though he’d hardly wandered into a warzone and it wasn’t as though he’d gone looking for trouble, “I just… I walked around a little, I felt like I had to.”

Yeah, Ted knew those kinds of feelings well, but that didn’t excuse recklessness. He ignored how much he knew he was being hypocritical but that didn’t matter.

“And this morning?”

Cody sighed, “This morning I realised that the kid who’d been at the park who’d seen Dazzle with the woman was the only link.” He held his hands up defensively and added, “I didn’t know it was him though! I went to the park to work on my book some more, and he’d done this pretty impressive trick. We got to talking and he tried to get me to go on his board—”

“Did you?” Ted couldn’t help but ask.

“Of course not; I’m not stupid enough to think I could pull it off. Anyway I--”

“Touched the kid’s board and saw?”

“Dazzle told you?”

“Dazzle told me…”

“She’s one smart cookie.”

“That she is.”

Silence fell between them then, neither man quite knowing what to say to one another.

Cody was the one to break the silence.

“I realised something else this morning.”

“What’s that?”

“Life is short.”

“You’re just figuring that out now?”

“Very funny, but seriously. It made me realise I don’t have much time to do something I’ve been thinking about for a while now…”

“Which is?” Ted asked wearily, unsure whether he wanted to know.

“To ask you whether… maybe you’d want to grab some dinner together sometime?”

~::~ 

Ted's mind went completely blank. To say he was startled was an understatement and he really didn't know how to react, although he suspected that his jaw might be unhinged and his eyes wide – not a good look for someone who'd just been asked out. There was a voice in his head, one that sounded suspiciously like Randy, telling him to say yes and just go for it, he liked Cody a whole lot and why shouldn't he get to be normal for once? But there was that other voice, the one that warned him about his behaviour, telling him he'd probably be gone soon and certainly Cody would, what was the point in setting himself up for a fall? 

“I, uh...” 

The trouble was, he'd managed to get through this many years without actually getting asked on a date, not seriously anyway. At school, news like him had gotten around and it didn't matter how smart he was, how good at sports, how attractive, no one was ever going to take the chance on Mental Ted, who talked to the Dead. When he'd moved on there had never really been much of a chance to meet with anyone, as short a time as he was in town for. He had been asked back 'for coffee' on a couple of occasions when he had been drinking alone in a bar somewhere, easy enough to turn own since it wasn't actually a date. And more than once there had been offers from the family or friends of the dead people he had seen, when they believed him, which he had also gently turned down. He knew damned well that they weren't asking because they necessarily liked him. He really didn't know how to react to this. 

Cody was starting to look concerned, mildly hurt and Ted had the sense he was about to retract the invitation. That was the last thing he wanted, so he stammered out the first thing that came into his head. “Uh, why?”

Great, that turned out to be the wrong thing to say because now Cody looked hurt and rejected. Ted quickly amended himself. “I mean, I don't mean that, I mean...”   
Shut up said the Randy-voice in his head and took over. “I'd love to.”

Cody's expression morphed into relief and mild amusement. “Good. Uh, are you busy tonight?”

“No. I mean, I'm free if you'd like to, uh...” Ted gave a slightly helpless smile, completely forgetting that he'd been mildly irritated with Cody only moments before. “I can find out somewhere nice and text you? I don't know where's good. And is there anything you don't like? I can avoid that if you--”

“Whoa, wait. I asked you and that means that I have to find somewhere that you like.” Cody grinned. “And I get to ask if there's anything you don't like.”

“Ask Randy, I'll eat anything,” replied Ted and then wished he hadn't. It made him sound greedy as hell and also a little like a double entendre. “Anywhere's good.”

“Why don't I come by at about eight and pick you up?”

Ted nodded, maybe a touch too enthusiastically. “Sure, that sounds good. Really good.”

“Good.” Cody fell quiet for a moment, the silence a little awkward. 

“I'd uh, better get going,” said Ted. “I should, yeah.” 

“See you tonight,” said Cody with a smile. 

“I'm looking forward to it,” replied Ted and left before he could make more of a fool of himself. But as he left there was a smile on his face and he started to hum under his breath, torn between delight at the upcoming date and mild terror about what he was going to wear, do or say that wouldn't give him away as completely pathetic. 

~:~

Randy was slobbing around the house after his work-out – he had to keep looking good even if he was between jobs at the moment, because he wasn't about to allow John to lose interest – when Ted burst in through the door looking like he'd just won the lottery and been told that he had to use the money to cure world hunger. The strange combination of euphoria and terror aroused his curiosity and he headed into the kitchen, where Ted was pouring himself a glass of orange and whistling something under his breath. 

“What's gotten into you?”

“Huh?” Ted turned his attention back to the orange juice. “Nothing.”

“Yeah?” Randy didn't buy it for a minute. “Where've you been?”

“Just for a walk.”

“Hmm. A walk that happened to take you past a certain hotel?”

“What makes you ask that?”

The lack of denial was a dead giveaway. “Because you're grinning Theodore and I've only seen that look on your face around one person just lately. So, Cody's good then?”

“Yeah,” replied Ted with such a bad attempt at hiding nonchalance that Randy burst out laughing. Ted glared at him. “What?”

“What?” Randy mimicked. “What is that you sound like a twelve year old girl talking about her first crush. You're acting like you got asked on a date.”

The silence told its own story and a slow grin spread across Randy's face. “Tell me he asked you on a date.”

“Well, uh...”

“And you said?”

Ted shrugged. “I said, why?”

“Oh dear god.” Randy covered his face with his hand. “Smooth Ted, really smooth. Please tell me you at least managed a yes after that.”

Ted nodded, grinning with quiet satisfaction as Randy patted him on the back rather too vigorously. “Good man. What're you wearing?”

“Ah...”

“Oh hell. What time is he coming over?”

“Eight--”

“Then we might have just enough time to make you presentable.”

“You are such a woman,” bitched Ted but he was chuckling as he allowed Randy to pull him into the main bedroom to see if there was anything there that would be suitable for his hot date.


	11. Chapter Ten: A Cowboy By Any Other Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody and Ted have their date, and Randy and John take the opportunity for a little quality time too.

Cody was nervous as hell, there was no way to deny it. He had spent some time online trying to find somewhere good to eat – he had been through an agony of deciding the pros and cons of every single type of restaurant nearby nearby, the thought of Ted's privileged upbringing occasionally intruding on his decision making process. In the end he had told himself that Ted would probably prefer something a little more low-key and opted for somewhere that seemed quiet and had good food, a small place that was maybe a little out of the way. That done, he had distracted himself for a few hours by writing, something that didn't usually come hard for him but on this occasion he managed to get distracted several times by thinking about what he could wear, or say, or eat that wasn't going to put Ted off or spill all over him. He wasn't displeased with the output though and only turned the computer off when it got later and he had to start thinking about getting himself ready.

He turned on the TV and of course the ads were on. He smirked and went over to the mirror, wondering if he could grow a moustache in a couple of hours – that would be suave, right? Or would turning up on the doorstep with face fur make Ted think porn star? It didn't really matter he concluded, he didn't think he had the time. His hair on the other hand... he was just debating on the level of spike when the words missing child penetrated his bubble and he sighed. Local news, didn't it just figure? He couldn't get away from it, even for a single night. 

“And police have released a photofit--”

Cody's eyes widened and he bolted to the front of the TV to see the picture cops had released; the woman he had seen in Dylan's mind and when he had touched the earrings. Their artist was pretty damned good, he decided. The likeness was great, the hair wasn't quite what he remembered but the hard lines around her eyes and the corners of her mouth were exact (and if what he had seen was accurate, then she would be freaking out about them if she saw herself on the TV). 

“...Wanted for questioning in relation to the case,” continued the newsreader and Cody cursed himself, had they said a name while he was admiring the artistry? Probably not, Dylan hadn't known one. The newsreader went on to give an approximate height and weight, something else that made Cody smirk, he thought that Dylan had guessed a little on the heavy side and no woman liked that kind of thing, certainly not one that seemed as vain as she did. There was a tip-off line and Cody wondered wryly if Randy was going to be pissed off at John working all night, although it didn't seem that likely that John would be the one manning the lines. Probably they took names and addresses and checked records to see who looked good for a crime. Cody knew a little about police procedure but he wasn't sure how that one would work and most of what he did know came from watching Law and Order. 

He stared at the TV while the newsreader recapped the children that had gone missing in the area, mentioning how the cases were similar and noting that although a couple of other children had been reported missing and feared to be a part of the pattern, they had since been found and their disappearances explained. The public was urged once more to be vigilant and to report anything they might know, whether it be something they had remembered or something they suspected. 

“There are no ransom demands and no trace of the missing children, leading to speculation that the worst has happened,” said the newsreader solemnly and Cody sighed; scaremongering much? “Rumours including paedophile gangs and slavery rings have been mentioned in certain areas of the press--”

“Leaving you free to pass it on,” muttered Cody. 

“...But there are no trace of the missing children so far. The police are following up a number of leads but as more time passes, hope is fading. However the police are continuing to conduct their investigation with the assumption that it is still not too late.”

The newsreader moved on to the next story, something about a robbery in a jewellers and Cody lost interest. He turned back to the mirror, a little of his good feeling diminishing. Maybe there was hope for some of the children, certainly he had felt it, but for at least one of the missing there was no chance of finding her alive. And there was another dead child in the middle of it too. He wanted this over with, he wanted to find the bitch and get her off the streets before anyone else had to suffer – but he wasn't sorry he was there. Otherwise he could never have met Ted. 

He had managed to talk most of the night the previous evening without bringing up either one of their abilities and he was determined to follow suit again. He didn't want their conversation to be dominated by unpleasantness, he would like to show Ted that it was more than possible to have that ability and be able to carry on a normal life, since Ted didn't seem to have gotten the memo. 

Cody managed to put the bad side of his visit to St Louis to the back of his mind and think only of the upcoming night, his big date with Ted and tried to quell his mounting excitement. 

~::~

When the polite knock sounded on the apartment door at eight sharp Ted was halfway between instinctively running into the bathroom to hide and boldly facing the door before Randy made his decision for him and gave him a smart shove towards the door. Stumbling, the red-faced Ted scowled at his friend before then taking a breath and opening the door.

Should he have brushed his teeth? He hadn’t thought there’d be much point considering they were eating, but now Cody was there—

“Open the door, Ted!” Randy hissed and Ted jumped.

Certain he was still bright red Ted opened the door--- and almost fell backwards on his ass when he saw the vision of perfection before him. If he thought Cody looked hot (and he had, maybe, a little…) when he was in normal clothing he was absolutely floored by the sight of him dressed up. Tight jeans that were moulded to him like a second skin without looking ridiculous or obscene, and a silvery-grey shirt that complimented his dark jeans and boots, as well as his overall colouring.

Smiling shyly (and admittedly with a little seduction within, though not much since he knew Ted should be handled a bit gentler now he’d made this first step) Cody glanced across at Ted from underneath his lashes. “You look really good,” he complimented softly. The dark shirt and light jeans worked really well for Ted… and day-um, if Cody had admired Ted’s ass before he’d never been afforded as good a view as he had then. And--- were those cowboy boots?

Randy noticed the moment Cody’s eyes lighted upon the shoes on Ted’s feet and he mentally sighed; he had fought and fought with Ted to get him to wear something else on his feet, but Ted wasn’t having any of it. Randy supposed he’d been lucky that he’d managed to convince Ted to tuck his jeans over the boots and not in… Still, the boots were sort of like a comfort blanket to Ted so he supposed he should have known before he’d even began that it was a lost cause.

“Hey Randy,” Cody said lightly as he noticed the other man leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen and watching them.

“Hey Cody,” Randy said, expression friendly, though there was a small light of triumph in his eyes. However, that light of triumph wouldn’t be verbally shown until he was assured the two of them ended up in bed together. What? He wasn’t just obsessed with sex, but he didn’t think that it would hurt those two in particular to just have fun and let go of everything. Surrendering yourself to pure sensation was an indescribable bliss, especially when it was someone you had a real connection with.

“I’ll see you later then,” Ted said, starting out of the door.

“Got your phone?”

“Yes.”

“Wallet?”

“Yes.”

“Spare key?”

“God,” Ted flushed a little more and shot Randy a warning look although his twitching lips proved that he was attempting to fight a smile, “Yes, dad I have everything.”

Smirking back Randy then looked to Cody, “If possible I’d like him back by midnight. If not I want you kids to play safe.”

Cody looked as though he didn’t know whether to laugh or be mortified. Ted however was looking more mortified.

“Oh my--- go, go now—“Ted started, pushing Cody back a little and exiting himself, closing the door on Randy before the other could come out with anymore horrendously embarrassing pseudo parental comments. Later he would kill him, or get him back by telling John every embarrassing thing he knew about Randy from the age of four.

Randy smirked as the door closed behind the pair, smile slipping slightly when he noticed his phone was indicating a text-message. It didn’t take a rocket-scientist to figure out who it was from, and Randy already had his message of reassurance that he didn’t mind John might be later (or not home) and that he should make sure to eat and get some rest at some point in his mind and poised in his thumbs before he had even finished reading John’s own text.

~::~

“Something tells me Randy’ll be facing another night at home in his empty bed,” Evan mused as he noticed John hunched over his desk and looking as though the photocopier had thrown up on him. Actually, that could be accurate (although the copier was not in John’s office) because that thing had to be older than he was and the department big wigs had been refusing to budget them money for a new one… and then had the balls to complain when the copies came out with a bit of a brown tint and occasionally smelled of smoke.

Without looking up John answered, “You’d know all about sleeping in empty beds wouldn’t you?”

“Ouch dude, cold.”

Looking up then John looked apologetic, “Sorry…” he hadn’t been thinking, and as usual his mouth ran away without permission from his brain. Evan waved him off although there was a small light of hurt still lingering in his eyes, making John feel like a first-class asshole, “Is there anything I can do for you, Ev?”

“Actually I just came to see if there was anything you needed from me before I went home.”

“Early for you isn’t it?”

“Well, uh,” Evan suddenly looked embarrassed, “I have a date.”

That managed to distract John from pouring over the latest abduction scene photos for the hundredth time.

“A date?” he didn’t mean to sound so surprised, it was just well-known within the precinct that Evan was notorious for being oblivious of any attention people paid him with romantic intent, and when someone had the gall to ask him out he usually politely turned them down and claimed that he wasn’t interested in dating at the moment.

“Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Uh, can I get back to you and let you know if it goes well?”

“Why wouldn’t it go well?”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Evan said ruefully, “My social skills can be somewhat… lacking.”

“You’ll be fine,” John assured, “Just relax and be yourself.” John knew full-well that Evan just needed a bit more self-confidence because otherwise he had the whole package… Hell, even Randy had playfully joked about inviting Evan for a threesome not long after he met the man by chance when visiting John, although those jokes had stopped (except for playful banter) long since then.

“Easier said than done… So nothing for me down in the lab?”

Looking down at the photo of the latest missing child provided by the family John sighed, shoulders slumping and the familiar air of frustrated dejection started to emanate from the man, “No… nothing yet I’m afraid.”

~::~

“How did you find this place?” Ted asked curiously as he stepped through the front door when Cody held it open for him.

“The magic of Google,” Cody smiled, “I thought, um, somewhere low-key might be a good choice?” it came out as something more of a question and Ted realised then that Cody had probably picked the place more for his benefit than he had his own. The thought that someone would put so much effort in on his account (even if it was for something as small as a choice of location) made a warm feeling start in his chest.

“It looks really nice here,” Ted hastened to add when he realised he hadn’t really responded to the other.

It was busy inside, but not ridiculously so, and Cody reached for Ted’s hand automatically as he spotted a table near the back where they would be out of the way enough to provide them with some privacy but not too private that things would become awkward between them.

“Do you want to keep the table and I’ll go and get drinks?” he asked, voice catching as his hand connected with Ted’s. At least the blonde also looked a little startled and dazed, though Cody couldn’t understand why that kept happening whenever he and Ted so much as accidentally brushed their fingers together. It didn’t make much sense and it was a little unnerving to be perfectly honest.

“Sure,” Ted said, swallowing thickly.

Their hands were still connected and although a small part of Ted wanted to shrug away (he’d never been interested in inviting confrontation for his homosexual status) there was another part of him that wanted to enjoy these moments of non-familial contact. It was probably the only date he was going to go on for a while (and probably his last one with Cody once the other got to know him in this kind of setting) so he figured he should enjoy himself.

“What would you like to drink?”

“I’ll have a coke, thanks.”

“You can have a beer if you like,” Cody said, “After all, we’ve not driving.”

Chuckling slightly Ted said, “I’m good thanks, coke’ll be fine,” he wasn’t sure that combining alcohol with the flock of butterflies he had loose in his stomach would be a great idea. And since he wasn’t too confident with his first impression upon even being asked on the date he wanted to make a much better impression on the other now…

He wanted this date to go well.

He hadn’t really considered anything would seriously happen between himself and Cody before that night, but now it was there he wanted to do whatever he could to maybe secure a second date.

“OK, coke, I can do that.”

As Cody headed to the bar Ted noticed that a few women turned to follow his progress, the occasional man doing the same thing. He was an attractive man, Ted thought, actually managing to quash the bitter voice that said they probably wouldn’t be half as interested in him if they knew Cody could read their inner thoughts and feelings just by touching something of worth to them. In truth Ted had been a little plagued by the consideration that Cody might only be bonding with him because they shared their ‘gifts’ so to speak, but he had since written off the idea; Cody didn’t seem like the kind of person who would do something for the sake of it.

Sighing slightly Ted sank into the seat on the side of the table which meant he could keep an eye on the bar and flicked open the menu; it looked like good rustic food and from what he could see of other people being served the portions were pretty damned decent for the price they were going for.

“Avoid anything with garlic,” Randy had told him, “garlic kisses are only acceptable after you’ve been together a month.”

“Who said we’re going to be kissing?” Ted had asked in return, pretending not to notice the excited squeeze in his stomach, the dreams he had been having on and off about Cody surfacing in his mind… and unfortunately some of them were much less innocent than others.

“If you don’t get at least a kiss goodnight I’m forever writing you off as a lost cause!”

Ted laughed a little bitterly underneath his breath, pleased the menu was hiding his face, “I’m surprised he hasn’t done that already…”

“Something wrong?”

Ted looked up to see Cody there, two glasses of coke with ice and straws in hand, a concerned and uneasy look on his face.

Schooling his expression into a more open smile Ted nodded, “Absolutely, I was just thinking that I can’t decide whether I want chicken or steak.”

“Life’s great question?” Cody smiled as he sat down.

“Of course,” Ted said with mock-serious, “It’s very important.”

Laughing softly Cody picked up his own menu and flipped it open.

The pair lapsed into silence as they looked over the food that was being offered to them, Cody taking the menus up to the bar counter and placing their order before re-joining Ted towards the table.

“Ted?”

“Yes Cody?”

“I’m… really, really glad you agreed to come out with me tonight,” Cody knew he was probably coming off as a bit pathetic and desperate but he couldn’t help it. Ted responded better to honesty, on his part at least, “I was…” he laughed wanly, “I was so sure that you’d say no.”

~::~

“Marvin?”

“Yeah. Hard to believe my parents didn't hate me from the off...”

Cody tried to hide his chuckle. “It's not that bad--”

“Oh, it is.” Ted chuckled. “But when I ask them why, they really don't know why I might not like it. They think it's great.” He rolled his eyes. “I suppose that I'm lucky they decided to name me after my dad, otherwise it could be my first name and that's just too horrible to contemplate.” He grinned back at Cody, reaching over for his drink. “Please don't tell anyone.”

“Your secret's safe with me.”

Ted gave him a stern look. “Your turn. I told you my middle name.”

“It's Garrett.” Cody winked. “Yee-haw.”

Ted laughed. “That's not all that bad actually.”

“Oh, of course not. It makes me sound like I should be wandering about in a cowboy hat and boots...” He frowned a little as Ted's eyes took on a mildly glazed look, waving his hand in front of the blondes eyes. “Uh, Ted?”

Ted blinked. “Sorry. I was just trying to envision it. Uh, I still don't think it's that bad though.”

“My dad chose it. He likes country and western. I suppose it could be worse. My dad's nickname was Dusty, y'know like Dusty Rhodes? He loves it, so much that most people think it's his real name. And he called my brother Dustin after himself.” He laughed. “Of course, big bro tends to prefer to be known as Goldie most of the time, so it didn't really take. And he gave me all the cowboy names and there's no one less cowboy like than me.”

“Shame,” said Ted and then coloured a little. “Uh, doesn't your dad mind your brother being a drag act?”

“Nah, my dad's pretty cool about anything that we do. Although he sometimes admits he's raised some weird kids, most Christmas's when we get together.” Cody smiled, pushing aside the plate he'd been eating off – he had gone all out and ordered the steak with veggies, since that was what Ted was having. It had been good and he fully intended to finish it off with a dessert, something he usually avoided – he knew that Ted would refuse if he didn't have something and the thought of seeing Ted indulge in something sweet was just too good to pass up. “What about your brothers, what do they do?”

“They're in the family business,” replied Ted, his voice neutral but Cody thought he sounded maybe just a touch uneasy or formal about it. “My dad made all his money in the stock market and my brothers invest money for people as well. They take a percentage of the profits. They're both on the verge of seven figure wages, if they're not there already.”

“Wow.” Cody would have liked to explore that but he suspected that Ted living on his parents and the minimum wage jobs that he picked up when he stayed in town a while was probably a sore point for him, with his brothers doing so well and the probable expectations his parents had when he'd been younger. One thing Cody did know was that Ted was bright and could probably have done pretty well if he'd gone into the same business. 

“Have you ever gone and watched your brother’s show?” asked Ted. 

Cody considered. “Yeah, once or twice but I don't really like to. Not because of Dustin,” he added hurriedly. “Because of the uh, the people who go to watch. If you go to a cabaret of that kind there's really only three types of people there – straight guys who're very uneasy at getting dragged to watch a female impersonator, straight women who're just there to enjoy it and the gay guys who're uh, either with a partner or looking to find a partner. And it's weird getting chatted up while your brother's singing Tina Turner on stage. Also, he tends to notice and yells at anyone that's talking to me that I'm his baby brother and they can just forget about getting anywhere.”

Ted smirked, a little jealous at the thought of anyone chatting Cody up in a bar but amused at the image of the female impersonator haranguing them. He decided he liked Dustin already. 

A waitress appeared at Ted's elbow, removing their plates. “Was everything okay? Can I get you anything else?”

“Death by chocolate,” said Cody immediately, winking at Ted. “How about it? I'm pretty sure there's not enough chocolate involved for a lethal dose.”

Ted laughed, a sound that Cody was growing more used to and still loved to hear. “That's a ringing endorsement. Why not?”

The waitress smiled, nodded and removed their plates, heading into the back. Ted smiled over at Cody. “I didn't think you were much of a one for dessert.”

“Well, I thought I'd make an exception. I'm having a great time so why not involve everything that's good?” Cody looked hopeful. “Are uh, are you having a good time?”

Ted looked a little shy but reached across the table, looking as if he might take Cody's hand but hesitated and patted it instead. “I'm having one of the best nights of my life.”

~:~

John arrived home exhausted and late, having stayed behind at work trying to work out what the hell else he could do, working through some of the tips that had come in from the general public. There were a lot and although a few of them seemed to be clearly malicious or misguided they had to work through every single one. He had been chasing up a few of those he could look at on the computer and the next day he and the rest of the team would have to do some legwork. He would have preferred to have stayed in the office longer, but he was ready to drop and if he had to deal with the general public tomorrow, he would have to be relatively alert to their behaviours and not look like he was about to fall asleep on their doorsteps. 

That boy coming forward might have created a lot of work but he was damned glad of every one of the tips. It seemed that he had been going nowhere until Cody and Ted had come to town, even though it wasn't as if they could have had anything to do with the boy coming forward... at least, it didn't seem that likely. 

He had texted Randy to tell him he was on his way back and when he got home, he rather expected that Randy would be there with a Chinese take-out, or maybe a pizza. Randy did cook but when John was working as he was, for some reason Randy tended to prefer to get something quick so that there was no messing around before John got back. And of course Ted would be there, so it would probably be a case of John grabbing a few bites and then collapsing into bed while Randy kept Ted occupied for a while. 

So when he got home, he was more than a little surprised to smell the cooking of something that definitely wasn't pizza. In fact, it smelled like some kind of pasta. He breathed it in, taking off his jacket and hanging it up before walking further into the house. The lights were dimmed, the television off and there was no sign at all of Ted sitting on the couch and arguing with Randy over what channel they were watching. The duvet that Ted used on their couch was folded neatly and placed unobtrusively out of the way and the whole house was a lot neater than he thought he had left it. 

“Randy?” John called. 

Randy emerged from the kitchen and John's eyebrows shot up. Randy always looked good, always. But usually he didn't go out of his way when he was doing nothing more than sitting in the house all night and John knew he wouldn't have made plans when he was working as many hours as he was. Yet Randy had changed sweats and a t-shirt for black jeans and a white shirt, open at the throat and the sleeves rolled up. 

Noting the impressed look, Randy leaned against the doorway and smiled slowly. “Bath. There's one ready for you.”

“I was just gonna grab a shower--”

“I don't care what you were gonna do. What you are doing is getting into the bath. Dinner'll be ready when you get out.”

John found his body reacting very definitely to the smile, but he still tried. “Where's Ted?”

“The kids have gone out on a date.”

John blinked. “Seriously? Ted and Cody? Which one of them got up the nerve for that?”

“Cody.” Randy pointed toward the bathroom. “We're not talking about them right now. I expect you to have a long bath, it's all ready for you.”

John smirked. “And after that, am I supposed to dress up nice too?”

Randy winked. “I'm thinking that a towel might be overdressed, in your case. You're supposed to be chilling out so go chill. If I have to tell you again, I'll carry you in there and throw you in the water. Go!”

John saluted jokingly and then took off toward the bathroom. The water was still hot, just verging on too hot, and it was exactly what John needed. He sighed happily as he lay back in the bath, his eyes drifting shut. The case was still on his mind but for the first time that day it lost a little of its urgency, allowing him to turn off his mind for a little while instead of going over the same problems over and over and over and coming up with the same lack of answers. He could let go of his frustration for a little while. 

He was dimly aware of the door opening but he didn't bother opening his eyes. “Randy?”

“Brought you a drink.” There was a moments quiet and John knew that Randy hadn't gone anywhere. “You need some help washing your... front?”

John chuckled, opening one eye and looking up at Randy. “You'll ruin your clothes.” 

“It's a risk I'm willing to take.” Randy knelt down by the bath, reaching out and wrapping long fingers around John's cock. John let out a quiet moan as Randy's hand started to move, maddeningly slowly. 

“Isn't dinner gonna burn?”

“Nah, it's fine.” Randy continued the same rhythm and John reached down to twine his fingers with Randy's, both of them working together to bring John off. Usually John would have been concerned that Randy wasn't getting much from this, but he recognised that Randy was trying to look after him, encouraging him to be selfish. He appreciated that, probably more than Randy realised. 

It didn't take long at all before their hands were moving much faster and John was writhing in the bath, the water sloshing around him and occasionally splashing over the lip of the bath. It didn't seem to deter Randy, even though he was getting slightly damp himself, his eyes were fixed only on John and that secretive half-smile he sometimes wore played across his lips. 

John arched his back as he came, a little surprised that Randy hadn't chosen to be more teasing – the man had a penchant for that kind of thing, getting John's motor running and then making sure he had to do more to get what he wanted. Then again, John had the same streak as well and used it just as often. Much of his release went over Randy's hand and wrist and as John allowed his body to relax in the water, Randy withdrew his hand and looked at it with some amusement before looking back at John. “Don't be too long in there,” he said with a wink. “Dinner's on. And I was actually planning to take care of you properly in bed tonight.”

“Trust me, I'll still be up for it.” John's voice was slightly roughened, his heart still pounding. “Wow Randy.”

“I'm a man of many talents. Wash up and come eat.” Randy cleaned himself up and headed out of the bathroom, leaving John to have five minutes lying there grinning before drinking the cola Randy had brought for him and having a quick wash before pulling on the boxers and his comfortable old robe that Randy had left out for him and padding into the kitchen. Randy had set up the table, moving some lamps so that the room was dimmed instead of the usual brightness that illuminated the room. Randy had made pasta, filling and simple and they talked about inconsequential topics, not touching on the things that John had done at work – sometimes he needed to talk about it, get his thoughts in order, and sometimes he needed to forget all about it and Randy seemed to know just when each reaction was needed. It was a nice meal with no pressure and John realised during it that the love he felt for Randy, which was always there and present and as much a part of him as his blue eyes or his dimples, was as strong and enduring as ever. 

~::~

“What?” Randy asked as he smiled across the table to him, and John shook his head before reaching out for Randy’s hand, their fingers instinctively linking together, fitting as perfectly as though they were made to be that way.

“Nothing.”

“Come on; you’ve got that look on your face.”

“What look?”

Randy looked almost sheepish, “That really happy look.”

“I am really happy,” John responded without hesitation, “You have no idea how much I needed this—“to just be able to take a step back and stop thinking about missing kids and murder and all of the other miserable crap the world tended to dump on his plate on a day-to-day basis.

“You’re welcome.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, dope.”

“For all your romantic gestures you suck at romantic dialogue.”

An amused smile touched Randy’s lips as he cocked his head, “You’re just realising now? Shut up and give me a kiss.”

“I have garlic breath—“John started even as he leant forward enough to meet Randy in the middle of the table, the kiss gentle and affection, but hinting at unspoken promises of what would occur that evening once they had finished eating. Good job he was sitting really because the table was undoubtedly doing a better job at obscuring his physical response to the prospect of what was to come more than his robe would.

“Since when did garlic breath bother me? We’ve both had worse!” Randy winked as they parted and resumed their seats, eating the last of their pasta. After the last forkful John sighed contentedly, leaning back in his seat and rubbing his stomach.

“That was delicious.”

“I do remember how to use the stove… sometimes,” Randy grinned before tipping his glass at John in reaction of the compliments before draining the last of the liquid and levelling John with a stern look, “I want you to go to bed, get comfortable and wait for me.”

“What’re you gonna be doing?”

“Cleaning up—and no, you can’t help, and then I will be joining you with dessert.”

“Dessert?” John asked curiously and the younger man grinned at him amusedly before nodding his head.

“Is there an echo in here? Yes, dessert: now get your fine ass to our bedroom like I told you to, OK?” he was determined that tonight was going to be all about John and he was going to keep it that way even against John’s own determination to become involved and help out.

“Yes master.”

“Carry on like that and your night will be anything but restful,” Randy teased, patting John’s backside affectionately as the other passed by him to exit the kitchen, giving it a moment before starting to gather the dishes to clean up.

~::~

“You didn’t need to walk me back.”

“Yes I did.”

“But that means you’re walking home alone now.”

“I don’t mind.”

“But I mind.”

“I’ll text you when I get back if that’ll make you feel better?”

“I’m holding you to that,” Cody chuckled as they paused at a zebra crossing waiting for the little green man to tell them that they could cross the road without risk of being turned into road-kill, “If you don’t get back to me now then I’m going to assume that you’ve been--- that something bad has happened,” Cody amended, not really able to make jokes about abduction in light of recent events; it seemed in pretty poor taste even though he was sure Ted wouldn’t accuse him of anything like that.

“I promise I’ll text you as soon as I get back,” Ted chuckled, feeling in a very good mood thanks to his full stomach and the engaging company Cody had provided. Aside from the odd occasion of mild awkwardness where they had deviated near topics that neither of them where particularly keen on talking about (their gifts for example, or certain aspects of their past work in connection with said gifts) but other than that Ted had found the entire meal very enjoyable…

So much so that he was actually hoping for another date.

“Hey, Ted—“the blonde startled a little, so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed that they had reached Cody’s hotel, mildly disappointed with the fact, “Can you close your eyes for me for a second?”

“Yeah, that request never ended well for me when my brothers asked when we were kids,” Ted began leeringly, but when Cody merely continued to send him the same level, comfortable look that he seemed to be showing him that evening, he found himself relenting. “Alright,” he said, frowning just a little, “Don’t try anything funny though right?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Cody commented.

When a few seconds passed and nothing happened Ted started to open his eyes, “Cody—”

Lips pressing against his own would probably have seemed the obvious conclusion to come people but Ted didn’t see it coming at all. His eyes flew open then, seeing that Cody’s were closed, almost as though he was too frightened to see Ted’s reaction when he did what he had. Pulling back after a few seconds Cody opened his eyes, blushed, smiled shyly, stammered, “Goodnight Ted, thanks for dinner,” and then ducked inside.

Ted remained where he was, frozen in place and grinning like an absolute idiot.

~::~

The following morning John woke before his alarm, which shocked him because he had been positively worn out (in a very good way tailing on from his exhaustion in the not-so-good-way provided by work) after Randy had finished with him and he’d fallen fast asleep enveloped in his lover’s arms, head cushioned atop Randy’s chest and listening to the lulling rhythm of his heartbeat. Opening his eyes a fraction John deduced that it was still dark but given they were in the midst of winter that meant nothing and he reluctantly reached an arm out to the bedside table on his side to retrieve his phone.

04:45

The fuck?

Groaning softly John put his phone back down and nuzzled back into Randy’s chest, mentally cursing when his lover sighed and shifted with him, arms tightening around him a little.

“You awake?”

“No…”

“Good…”

“You shouldn’t be awake.”

“Believe me, I’m trying not to.”

His alarm wasn’t due to go off for just under an hour and a half or so after all, unless someone decided to drive him mental and decide that they were going to ring him at five and tell him even more bad news had occurred. Of course John was aware that he was tempting fate but that couldn’t stop the thoughts from coming anyway. Besides, he doubted many more children would be going missing; they were running the risk as it was, and the more they took the more likely things were going to go wrong and they’d get caught.

They would be caught anyway but it was just a matter of time until he managed to ensure it.

“Go back to sleep Jay, I can hear you thinking.”

Yawning behind his hand John closed his eyes and once again tried to centre on Randy’s heart-beat, slow, steady, continued, to lull himself back in for a little more rest since he knew he was likely to be run off his feet that day too to finish checking up leads from the public and chasing up whatever else was thrown his way during the course of his daily duties.

“Going back to sleep, honest.”

And sure enough, the next thing John knew, it was quarter past six and his alarm was bleeping incessantly from the bedside table. With a surprisingly agile movement John managed to shut off the alarm and slowly started to disentangle himself from his lover.

When arms wrapped around his middle and he suddenly found himself being pulled backwards towards the naked, close-eyed figured on the bed that mumbled, “Stay…” John found himself smiling what felt like the first time in forever when he’d awoken in a morning.

Dropping a kiss to Randy’s forehead he rested his own there a moment, “I would if I could babe, you know it. Next time I have a day off we’ll spend it together, all day in bed, naked.”

“I’m sure Ted would love that…” Randy chuckled as he opened his eyes and reluctantly released John so that the other could go and wash up before getting dressed for the day.

John decided to leave out the guilty mention that at the rate things were going Ted would most likely have definitely moved out before he had his next day off.

Pushing open the bedroom door he padded quietly towards the bathroom, washed, shaved, did his teeth and then padded back to the bedroom to throw on some fresh boxers and his usual working ensemble of shirt, slacks and tie. His shoes were by the door where he’d left them the night before and he’d pick up his jacket on the way out the same as usual, so he headed out towards the kitchen once he was dressed. Randy was more than welcome to go back to sleep of course but he often woke up alongside John and then returned to bed for another hour or so once he’d gone. Waking their house-guest was a bit of inevitability though, and John felt really bad about the fact Ted kept receiving early mornings because of their habits. To give the man his dues though he hadn’t once complained; if anything it seemed as though he was more than used to keeping early mornings and latish nights.

“Coffee, Ted?” he lowly asked the lump moving underneath the blankets.

“Please,” Ted mumbled, still indistinguishable from the actual covers.

As John set fresh water on to boil for coffee Randy entered the kitchen behind him, playfully slumping against John’s back with his arms around the man’s middle.

“Sleepy babe?”

“Always… you keep dumb hours.”

“Sorry.”

“S’OK… You gonna be late home today?”

“I don’t know,” John said apologetically, “I’ll text you ASAP when I get a hint.”

“Alright…” Randy yawned, masking his disappointment pretty well by this point; didn’t mean that it wasn’t wholly obvious that he hated going to bed without the other man though.

“How do you think Ted’s date went?” John asked softly.

“I’ll ask him in a minute,” John could all but feel Randy smirking through the thin material of his shirt.

Chuckling softly as he started on the coffee John warned, “Be nice; he’s just woke up.”


	12. Chapter Eleven: Almost Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning-after Ted's date culminates in a surprising offer from Randy. Meanwhile, relationships seem to be blooming all around him, and John knows his own life would be set to point if he could solve this case. When a tip comes in on their helpline seems promising he makes an unconventional move in who he chooses to go undercover for him.

Ted thought that he was going to escape for a little while longer, that he was going to get the chance to lay there for a little while reliving the night before and especially the part where Cody had kissed him. It had been fleeting but incredible at the same time, although Ted had been a little surprised that Cody had made him close his eyes before he'd made a move. It was almost as if Cody was shy too, but Ted didn't see how he could be. It was only Ted who was considered strange by others surely, Cody behaved almost completely normally and he didn't seem to have the same kind of social awkwardness and anxieties that Ted did. Except that he had been a little shy. So maybe he'd have to risk his own action rather than desperately hoping that Cody would do everything, all the chasing and all the work. Considering it rationally, it was more than a little unfair that he thought he should be exempt from acting, no matter how good he thought his excuse for doing so was. 

Before he could think it over much more, John came striding from his bedroom through the living room, nodded a quick farewell to Ted and walked out to work. Ted reached out for the coffee John had made him before he left, smiling a little to himself. Randy didn't believe in getting out of bed earlier than he had to once John had gone and that meant that Ted had a little peace. His mind went back to that kiss once more and he smiled to himself as he sipped his drink, wishing that he'd had the courage to deepen the kiss himself instead of being so thoroughly taken by surprise...

“Teddy!”

Ted did quite well not to spit his coffee back out again. He turned his head, swallowing quickly when he realised that Randy was behind him, beaming as he tied his robe. “Randy? Is the world ending or did I sleep 'til noon?”

“Hardy har-har.” Randy moved to the couch and would have landed unceremoniously on Ted's feet had the blonde not anticipated the move and quickly pulled them under himself. “I've got plenty of reason to be up early. Don't you have details to share with me?”

“Nope.” Ted took another sip of his coffee, grinning when he realised that Randy was pouting. He tried looking casual, although he was just as eager to talk about what had happened as Randy was to hear it. He thought the signs had been good but he really didn't have much of a frame of reference and what if it wasn't? What if it was some weird kiss-off that everyone about him knew about? He knew it wasn't but he was worried it was. And that said it all about his love life, and pretty much any part of his life that didn't revolve around talking to dead people. 

Randy glared for a moment, as if he was considering begging for details, or perhaps making out that he really didn't care and flouncing off, then smirked. “We can do this one of two ways. You can tell me everything, or else I can hold your head under the covers and fart until you beg me to listen. Which is it gonna be?”

“There's no way you could keep me under the cover like that --”

“Oh, I can. And you know I would.” Randy snickered. “Tell me, DiBiase.”

“You're such a damned woman,” said Ted, but without any real problem since he wanted to talk about it all anyway. He took another sip of his drink. “We went to dinner, I walked Cody back to the hotel and then came back here.”

“And?”

“Steak was nice. I'd give the place full marks.” Ted met Randy's irritated gaze and grinned. “Okay, okay. Everything was very nice, I had a great time and Cody was fantastic company.”

“You didn't get to know each other and decided you had nothing in common? He didn't put you off him.”

“No.” Ted shrugged. “Quite the opposite. He's not got the same interests or anything but he's great fun.”

“I'm not sure anyone has the same interests as you.” Randy raised his eyebrows. “Did you kiss him?”

“What are you, a teenage girl?”

Randy chuckled. “I take it that means you did.”

“Well... he did.” 

Ted tried to hide a grin that Randy was privately very pleased to see; Ted deserved something like this. “You didn't freak out or anything?”

“Randy. I'm inexperienced, not stupid. I'm not some frail creature that faints at the first sign of affection!”

“You're seeing him again though?”

“We didn't make any definite plans.” Ted shrugged. “But the case is still ongoing and I'm sure that Cody would like to be around to see an arrest made. And I'm still here.”

Randy frowned at this mention of what dragged Ted away all the time. “It'd be easier for you if you had somewhere you could lay down some roots. That way, if you were taken off somewhere, you'd have a reason to come back. Somewhere to ask him to come visit you.”

Ted shook his head slowly. “I can't go home, you know that perfectly well. Everyone knows who I am and what I do and they all think I'm not quite right. There'd be little old ladies stopping Cody in the street and warning him away from me if that were to happen.”

“But you're immediately making room for Cody in your future plans I notice.”

Ted flushed a little. “You asked--”

“There's no harm in it.” Randy leaned back against the couch. “Actually, we've been talking even before you came to town and the topic of you happened to come up in our own plans. We were looking for a bigger place right before John got assigned this case and it kinda got put to one side 'til it's done with – I don't want to ask him to make a decision on a house say, and find that when he's focused he really hates it. So, if we had a second bedroom or even three, we were thinking that maybe you'd wanna put down roots here. No one else knows you, you seem to like it well enough and you'd have me and John around to look after things when you were pulled away. And something to get back to between times, instead of hanging around waiting for the next thing to happen.”

Ted looked startled. “I couldn't possibly move into your house--”

“You could, easily. Half the time you'd not be there anyway and if you decided that somewhere else was better for you, there's no obligation to stay. But there'd be something to keep you from just drifting your whole life. And Cody knows where it is. I bet he'd be over all the time if there was somewhere for him to come to, instead of having to chase you from seedy motel to seedy motel.”

Ted rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncertain. “I – it sounds like a great idea to me, even if I'm the one getting all the benefit from it. But I'd have to think about it and whether it's even possible. Or if it's problematic, or if there's something I haven't thought of. Okay?”

“Okay,” agreed Randy. Pushing Ted any more would lead to a dismissal of the offer out of hand, the blonde was both fatalistic and cautious and that didn't go well with making massive decisions about his future other than letting something beyond his control guide him. That he'd been so positive was actually a really good sign; Randy wondered if seeing him and John as a couple had made him wistful and the budding romance with Cody couldn't go far if Ted had no firm base of operations. 

“Hasn't Cody texted you yet?” asked Randy, completely changing the subject before he could scare Ted with thoughts of plans and possibility. 

“Randy, it's first thing in the morning. He's probably still asleep.”

“Meh, maybe he is but I think he's more likely to be awake, showering or working or whatever. Probably wondering if he's overstepped his bounds.” Randy smirked. “I take it the kiss happened at the end of the night?”

Ted nodded and Randy continued. “Then he's probably working up his courage a little to text in case he offended you, or you had time to think it through and get scared. A quick text to tell him you enjoyed the night out and hope to do it again soon would be just right. Maybe tell him you hope to take him out this time.”

“Take him where?”

Randy laughed. “Theodore, in case you haven't noticed this is my town and I am very familiar with the best places to go. The best restaurants, the cool dates, everything. If I were you, I'd take him somewhere quirky, make sure it's nothing like he's ever done before. Laser tag, or paintballing, or a cabaret, or I dunno, a tour around one of those doggy rescue places. Actually forget the last one please. If you bring back six puppies John'll never forgive me.”

“You mean me.”

“Nah, you'll be crawling in cute dogs and he'll forgive a dog pretty much anything, for all he makes out he doesn't like them. He does, he just doesn't think we're in a position to have one or that the schedules would make for a happy animal. Maybe when we get somewhere bigger, with a garden.”

“Well, cabaret's out. Cody's brother works at one and I've heard some tales...” Ted frowned theatrically. “I don't think I'll be letting Cody near one of those in the future.”

“Jealous much?” asked Randy sweetly. “It's okay Teddy. We'll think of something, even if we end up choosing dinner or something equally safe. Now text him! Before he gets away!”

~:~

It wasn't often that John walked past the lab and found Evan daydreaming but that morning appeared to be the exception. Usually the young man was busy at work, sometimes humming to himself, occasionally having a one-sided conversation, again with himself, if something didn't make sense or he wasn't sure what it was. Seeing him with a drink in one hand, sitting at the desk was unheard of and John postponed going into his own office to put his head around Evan's door. “I take it your date went well then.”

Evan jumped a little, smiling back at John. “Uh, yeah. Not bad at all. Kinda better than I expected actually.”

John could sense that Evan was trying not to talk about it while at the same time dying to talk about it and although he was curious (and he wanted to check for himself that the guy Evan had gone out with wasn't a complete dick, when it came to his social life Evan seemed to neglect it in the same manner that many in their job tended to and it didn't always make people savvy about their dates), he knew that if he got the whole story then he would be in the lab for an age instead of getting on with what he should be. And there would be a lot waiting for him, he just had to hope that something in all that information was a good lead. 

“Maybe we should grab lunch and you can tell me the finer details,” he suggested. 

Evan looked slightly uncertain and that told John there was a reason Evan wasn't altogether comfortable discussing things. While there could be any number of reasons for that, he wasn't at all sure that he could immediately come up with any good ones – sometimes he wished his cop instincts would take the day off. Evan rubbed the back of his head. “Sounds good,” he said with too much casualness. “But uh, between me and you, okay?”

“Sure,” replied John, a little bemused. Then again, gossip fuelled this place sometimes and who wanted their love life to be the topic of talk at work? “I can keep it to myself. Probably best that way. If there's someone in your life, Jericho'll be devastated.”

He expected a chuckle and a throwaway comment from Evan. He didn't expect the little cough that Evan gave, followed by silence. He gave Evan a stern look, noting the increased colour in the lab technicians cheeks and put the pieces together. “Chris? You went out with Chris?”

“Hush!” Evan looked around hurriedly, as if expecting a film crew to fall out of the evidence lockers and start shouting questions and taking pictures. It didn't happen and there was nobody else around to overhear. “Yeah. I did.”

John raised his eyebrows. There was a good ten year gap between them, more if he wasn't mistaken although it was hard to judge with Chris looking (and sometimes acting) pretty young and Evan being in a responsible position that was rarely afforded to anyone below thirty. He was pretty sure though that Evan was younger than it sometimes seemed and Chris was older than he acted. Then again, was it such a bad thing? It occurred to him with some surprise that they were both very attractive men, regardless of their age – for him, it was simply that he had eyes only for Randy and that meant that he struggled to see anyone else as hot. He was always telling Evan he was good-looking but he had always known it in a strictly clinical sense. 

And one date was hardly serious. And it was none of his business really. As long as the man in question was going to treat Evan well and not jerk him around, then his interference should extend only to listening. He was certain that Chris wasn't going to jerk Evan around either, for all that he and John clashed he was a good man. 

“I'm surprised you gave in,” he admitted with a grin. “But I don't see bad news. You wanna tell me how it went over a sandwich later?”

“If you have the time,” said Evan, regaining his professionalism. “John, have you spoken to the office today?”

“Not since last night.”

“Oh boy.” Evan gave a smile that was equal parts wicked and sympathetic. “Since you released that photofit last night, there's been calls all night long over it. People who think they recognise her, people who think they know her, a few people who think they are her and want to clear their names.” He paused. “The earrings are hers, right?”

“Right.”

“But you gave them to me before the kid came forward.”

“Yeah.” John tried to think of a cover story and came up blank. “That might be something else to talk about over a sandwich.” By then he might have thought of something to explain it.

“Okay,” said Evan agreeably. “Enjoy the morning. If the tips that I've heard about are anything to go off, you'll need all the luck, and the patience, you can get.”

“But maybe the name of our kidnapper's in there.” John smiled. “Gotta think positive.”

“I hope you find her.” Evan tapped his fingers on the table. “I can sorta understand when people want a child so bad they take one. Not really, but sorta. It's when there's a few, more than one, that's when I start to worry.”

John nodded. “You and me both. But I have a good feeling about this. I really do. I just hope it's not finding a needle in a haystack looking for that one name.”  
Then again, he thought as he left Evan's lab and went for his own office, he had a little extra information that no one else did and that might be the key to finding the right tip early on.

~::~

“He still hasn’t text me.”

“Now who’s the teenage girl?”

“I’m just saying… You seem so determined he will.”

By this stage Ted and Randy had thrown on some clothes respectively and were now setting about having a breakfast that would probably wreck-havoc on both of their figures had they not been men who enjoyed their frequent stints to the gym.

“Of course he will,” Randy said confidently as he shifted the bacon about in the pan and flipped it over, determined that he wouldn’t have any of it burn this time (it would be eaten regardless but burnt bacon had never been his favourite) before turning his attention back to Ted, “You just need to be patient.”

Ted wrinkled his nose, “Not sure how I feel having you of all people telling me about patience.”

“And just what do you—”

The sound of Ted’s phone vibrating from its place on the coffee-table silenced the pair of them.

A slow smirk curled over Randy’s lips as Ted all but lunged for the phone whilst acting as though that wasn’t what he had been doing. “And who might that be?” the tone of voice he used almost had Ted wishing that it was his mother just so he could shut Randy up, but although she kept in touch regularly it was never for more than to see how he was doing and if he was perhaps heading home anytime soon.

“It’s… From Cody,” he couldn’t help but sound surprised because he’d managed to convince himself in no time that of course it was going to be his mother; Cody was likely not wanting to see him again after the way that he had left things the night before with their kiss.

Sometimes he felt like such a coward.

‘Morning Cowboy, how did u sleep?’

Unbidden a blush covered Ted’s cheeks as a smile pulled his lips simultaneously, tapping out a response to Cody, completely oblivious to the fact that Randy had almost knocked the full pan of bacon onto himself in shock at seeing the serene, pleased expression that had crossed Ted’s face. The expression, coupled with the light of laughter in his eyes, was one that Randy was pretty damned sure he had never seen on the younger man’s face in all of the years he had known him.

Maybe he’d been right on the money this time all along?

“Is he coming for breakfast?” Randy asked, giving Ted a bit of an easy escape this time by pretending that he hadn’t noticed the way the other jumped because he had apparently been so lost in thought texting their newest acquaintance.

“Oh—“Ted looked guilty, “I didn’t ask.”

“Maybe you should before we eat all the bacon?”

“Yeah, right…” though Ted knew that Cody didn’t like to consider himself a burden by eating John and Randy’s food all of the time. Lord only knew that he felt the same, which was what made it rather hard to consider living alongside the two men; obviously it wasn’t because he disliked them but because he would end up fundamentally relying on them for a lot of things since the meagre money he put together was usually forwarded towards travel and lodgings wherever he ended up…

Perhaps if he siphoned off a little, saved it up and sent it to them monthly? It would be money they could put towards some part of the home… and why was he considering this so in-depth when Randy had freely admitted that he and John hadn’t even chosen somewhere yet?

Shaking himself slightly he sent a second text to Cody, the reply coming through almost instantaneously (sometimes it boggled his mind just how quickly phone towards could work, making it seem like it took people no time at all to text back often):

‘I can be over in about ten minutes if you’ll save me some bacon?’

‘No promises on the bacon bt cn promise some pancakes.’

‘Throw in coffee and you’ve just made my morning.’

~::~

Why Cody had decided to come by the park again he didn’t know, especially since he had promised Ted he’d be about ten minutes to join he and Randy for breakfast; he’d need to walk quickly otherwise they would probably get suspicious since the hotel was about seven minutes from the apartment complex Randy and John lived in. Not that he had specifically timed it or anything when he had been to pick up a paper that morning.

Seeing Dylan he almost tripped over his own feet—although the boy actually came off of his skateboard in response to seeing Cody.

“Hey, are you OK?” Cody hurried over to him.

“I’m fine,” he hastily scrabbled to his feet and brushed himself down. “You didn’t see that.”

“See what?” Cody asked, and Dylan offered a brief smile before looking defensive.

“I went to see the cops—”

“I know you did—“and that reminded Cody, would that have been enough to send Dazzle on to wherever it was that people went when they died? Under other circumstances the afterlife probably would never affected him so much, but Cody suddenly found himself wishing more fervently than he ever had that heaven existed, and that she was going there. “I saw that thanks to you they can no start looking for the woman who has been taking these children.” His expression softened, “How are you doing?”

Pulling at the cap nestled atop his head Dylan shrugged, “My mum’s freaked out; she almost told me I couldn’t come back here until they’ve caught the psycho-chick but I said that was stupid. I mean, a life lived in fear is a life not lived, right?”

“Right,” that was scarily insightful for an early adolescent.

“It’s weird though…” he trailed off and cast a look around, rubbing his arms as though he had received a sudden chill even though the air had warmed significantly from what the online weather reports had claimed it had been that morning.

“What is it, Dylan?”

“I feel…” he laughed awkwardly, obviously hoping to displace some of what he was about to say by trying to make it into a light atmosphere, “I feel like sometimes she’s still around watching me the way that she always used to do. I’d never really thought about it until recently but she always seemed to be around to watch me a lot.”

Smiling, Cody bid Dylan goodbye and made his exit from the park, wishing him well on his future skateboarding career.

It was probably for the best that he hadn’t mentioned that (as far as he still knew) Dazzle was still hanging around, because she didn’t have much choice otherwise.

~::~

“Do you bring your own lunch?”

“Not usually,” Evan admitted, “But… I was awake early this morning and thought I’d kill time.”

John looked ruefully down at the store-brought sandwich and bag of crisps that he had brought; the sandwich wouldn’t be bad, he knew that much from having brought them from there before, but nothing beat something being freshly made as opposed to pre-made, pre-packaged and stashed into a fridge for goodness’ knew how long.

The pair were seated in John’s office since it was an assurance of privacy in there, and it wouldn’t be too odd for them to be seen together since everyone knew Evan (as Head Techie) would be handling the data John needed when it came to evidence for his case. Of course eyebrows were still likely to be raised since Evan was notoriously impossible to actually get out of his lab generally. Hence the reason why everyone was always taking things to him and then going back to fetch their results; if they waited for Evan to come to them they could be waiting a long time.

“What’ve you got?”

“Uh, pasta pot. I had some leftover from the other night that needed eating, so…”

“Want to go and use the microwave in the break-room?”

“Nah, I prefer it cold.”

“Suit yourself,” John ripped open the cover of his sandwich and eyed the rather limp stuffing with a slightly sad sigh; he preferred his sandwiches to have so much in them that the filling fell out. What was in here wouldn’t be enough to satiate a gnat.

It was pretty clear that Evan was latching onto his procrastination all but desperately (and that John really wouldn’t see the need to discuss lunch food so stridently out of every topic he could have conjured from his mind) but John had decided to take pity on him to let him gather his thoughts together.

Well, that and he also needed more time to try and get his own mind in order about how he was going to excuse to Evan how he knew about the earrings belonging to a woman when before Dylan’s visit and the composite they hadn’t ever really discussed the possibility that a woman was involved before.

“So…” he finally started since Evan didn’t seem inclined to, “Jericho? A date?”

Evan blushed slightly and glanced towards the closed door as though he expected the entire department, and the other members of his lap, to be piled outside of it and listening in.

“Yeah, we went on a date.”

“This is the part where you start telling me who asked who, and what happened.”

“Sorry,” Evan sighed, and John almost choked on a piece of cucumber in surprise at the almost longing, strangely dreamy smile that appeared on Evan’s face; he certainly never expected to see a look like that over the scientist’s face, “I just… I guess I’m still wrapping my head around it.”

Sure, the older man had come by to flirt with him on numerous occasions and he had asked him out before, but Evan had always thought it was just in the name of fun and that Chris didn’t actually mean it. It wasn’t that he believed Chris was making fun of him per se, and Evan would sooner shoot himself in the foot than admit to anyone else what he was about to admit to himself, but he had always thought the charismatic, handsome older man was out of his league.

It wasn’t just the age-difference, Evan knew he was something of a geek, and Chris had always been almost sinfully popular with the ladies of the department and he hadn’t heard much about any other men being in his life, at all, let alone significantly. So he supposed he could be forgiven a few lapses of self-confidence where Chris was concerned.

John smiled softly; Evan looked like a flustered teenager, it was pretty sweet.

“So?” he prompted.

“Oh! Right, yeah, well, he’d asked me after work the other evening, and I just decided what the hell? Let’s go for it.” He had been dreading the thought of going back to his silent, lonely flat and indulging in more takeaways and games-consoles as he went over files he needed to dole out here and there the following day. Even if Chris was making fun of him, he’d reasoned to himself, the company would be better than sitting at home alone.

“Where did he take you?”

“That French place, you know, the one in the middle of town?”

John whistled lightly, “Pricey.”

“Tell me about it!” Evan agreed eagerly before clearly reining himself in, “I told him he didn’t need to spend so much on me, but he just took me home, told me to change into something dressier, then we stopped at his place so he could do the same and he took me to the restaurant.”

“Food good?”

“Delicious, but the starter’s were kinda small,” Evan grinned.

John grinned back, “I think that’s what they’re meant to be like.”

“No fun that way; I like my food damn it.”

“Amen to that.”

They shared a companionable laugh and then fell silent for a little while as they focused their attention on their respective meals; they both knew they should get whilst the going was good because there was always the chance that they weren’t going to get the chance to eat again until late.

Looking up from his sandwich John asked, “Why did you agree then?”

“I guess I thought maybe it was time? And a date doesn’t have to mean anything…”

“No,” John agreed, “A date doesn’t have to mean anything…” he then eyed the other slyly, “Not unless you were asked on a second?”

Evan’s blush answered his question for him.

~::~

John went back to his desk, his mind not really on the case for once. Between Ted and Cody and Evan and Chris, it seemed like everyone was getting their lives together. Now if only he could nail the bitch that killed Dazzle and Theresa, then perhaps he could say that his own life was perfect. After what Randy had done to chill him out the night before, he could do with responding by spending some real time with his lover. When Randy was between assignments he tended to get bored, although he supposed that having Ted around was helping with that. 

His mind refocused pretty quickly when he saw the mountain of paper on his desk. He wasn't the only one who was working on the case of course and there was a number of other cops who were going through the tips as well, but it still seemed like a hell of a task. He preferred everything printed out rather than on the computer as it meant that he could write on the paper if he needed to, or throw it straight into confidential waste, and it helped the strain on his eyes. It was probably a waste and not cost-effective but no one in the department had got on his back for it. In his case there were three piles; pile a consisted of hot tips, pile b was where the tips that might or might not be worth following up were and pile c was the obvious lunatics that had to be checked on anyway. Pile a was slightly pathetic compared to the mountains of the other two piles. 

Sighing, John sat in his seat, turned on his computer and went to work. Pile A was the best place to start in his experience but in this case it was a big pile of disappointment. He found several that he would have to follow up on, three registered sex offenders (he had found that females were making up a depressing increase in the number of those wastes of oxygen), a couple of dead ringers for the photofit that were confirmed when he checked out the drivers licence database. But none of them felt right. For one thing he was certain this wasn't a sex crime. For another, a look at the pictures on the computer told him that it wasn't likely they were his suspects. Maybe it was because he had built up a picture in his mind from what Cody and Ted had told him, but he had his doubts. Still, it would be remiss of him to dismiss them on gut feeling alone and he put them aside, resolving that he would ask a couple of guys in the department to check out alibis. 

The crazy pile sometimes cheered him up but he got through less than ten before giving up in disgust. A woman claiming it was her husband in drag – said husband had walked out on her three years before and was registered as living in another state. A man insisting it was his 'cunt of an ex-wife', and never mind that the ex-wife was plainly Hispanic while their suspect was white. Another man saying it was his fourteen year old daughter and she was hiding them all in the cellar. A woman saying that it was her and she'd been compelled to snatch the kids thanks to an order following abduction by aliens. That woman's name had come up in other investigations and John lost all patience when he saw the name. She clearly needed help but her calls to the department took up valuable time and if past form was anything to go form, she would call daily until she was paid a visit by a couple of uniforms who would assure her they were checking out her aliens. 

Frustrated, he checked his mails. A couple of others on his team had alerted him to some interesting possibilities that John would usually have been all over, but he knew it wasn't right this time. More paedophiles, more dead ringers. Many of the women he had been linked to lived alone though, in apartments, and he knew that he was looking for a team. He knew because Ted and Cody had both told him. 

It occurred to him, and not for the first time, that maybe he was putting too much faith in what the two had told him. Maybe it was a sex crime, a woman working alone. But much as he would like to believe that, he had too much evidence going before it. Things that neither one of them could have known but did, evidence they'd led him to. It was too much to believe only what helped him out and then discard everything else they told him because it didn't fit in with his world view. Discarding scepticism had been what had led to his breaks in the case and if he regained it now, following the leads could take weeks. He might not have weeks. The pair had two bodies attached to them already and he couldn't live with himself if there was a third he could have prevented. 

He moved onto the largest pile, the possibles. Methodically he read through them, putting them in two more piles, the ones worth following up and the ones he could discard with only minimal digging. And there would be tips still coming in and even with that, it might not lead to anything. After all, there might be no tip about their actual criminals, they could have covered their tracks too well. It was a depressing through that he didn't like to dwell on, but the chance existed. 

With a sigh, John went to yet another tip. Another house in the back of beyond, what a shock. There seemed to be a lot of people making tip-offs about some barely-known neighbour and they were usually fruitless. There was a couple mentioned and so John took a little more notice, but a quick check on the woman's name told him nothing on the database; she apparently didn't drive or didn't have a licence. What a pain. He glanced further down the page with little more than professional interest at this point – he'd read a lot of tips and they were getting to the stage when they would start to blur together and he would have to go have a coffee as a distraction – when something caught his eye that took his mind all the way away from caffeine. 

He read the tip again, more carefully this time. The tipper lived in the less pleasant part of town, the part that was slowly but steadily going downhill. These days most of the property there was rented out and on the occasions that John had been called out there, he had found the occupants to be something of a mixed bunch. The houses themselves were well spaced out with surprisingly large gardens and tended to house large families; however the locale and the increasing dilapidation of some of the properties meant that few bought them for their own use. It was preferable to charge a fortune to those who would never raise enough money to get on the property ladder. 

The woman who had called had lived in her house some six years, a too-young widow with six children who was trying to get on with the business of raising them in tough circumstances. The way she had been described made John suspect she was something of a local busybody, or maybe just a little lonely and trying to fill the days with more than the chatter of children by making friends. The couple who had moved in next door didn't seem to be about to change that. They had moved in sometime around the period that Dazzle had been reported missing but the tipper hadn't seen much of them for maybe a month or so. But one day she had happened to be tidying her front lawn when she had seen the neighbours, all three of them, talking on their own front lawn. Mother, father and little girl. The tipper had gone over and made herself known, to a less than pleased reception from the new family. They had made it clear that they didn't welcome guests or offers of friendship, but they had at least been cordial and introduced themselves as the Stephens family. 

The daughter's name had been Theresa. 

John took in the details. A girl of about eight who had seemed shy, almost terrified of speaking. Perhaps because before the tipper had come over, she had been getting a telling off over something the tipper hadn't overheard. The girl had looked a little familiar perhaps, but all kids tended to look like other kids – hell, the tipper had said, there were times when she mixed her own children up with similar looking ones. In any case, the family were clearly not open to a friendly relationship and she had extracted herself quite quickly and thought little else of it. 

Until she had seen the article on the television about the mystery woman and started to really think about her neighbours. Since that day they had rarely been seen and the girl didn't go to school. As well as that, there had been new additions to the household, more children. Another neighbour had asked and been told, rather rudely, that the couple fostered. But there was another family on the street that did foster and they had never taken on so many children in such a short space of time and there were always social workers and the like checking on the children she did have. The tipper had never seen a visitor to the house next door and she had never seen the children arrive; they were simply there one day. Not that she saw much of them, or even knew for sure how many there were. They all seemed to be home schooled, they didn't play in the yard, they didn't seem to make much noise. But she thought Theresa looked a little like the first and second girls that had gone missing and was about the same age. And she had once seen a little boy standing on the top step, simply staring. She had waved but he hadn't seemed to have seen her. And then the mother had emerged, shooting her a dirty look as she pulled the boy back inside. 

Theresa. The name of the dead girl that Ted had spoken to. Coincidence?

Dazzle, real name Katie, was the first girl to go missing. John didn't have to look in a file to know the name of the second; Daria, aged eight. She had looked quite a bit like Dazzle, thick dark hair and a slightly tomboyish way of dressing that had been the thing to link the two cases in the mind of the cops in the first place. John frowned, trying to remember what Ted and Cody had said about Theresa. Ted's description was less useful in this case, he hadn't said much about how she looked except to say that she had a wound in her head. And thick, dark hair. Cody's description wasn't perfect either, he had seen her only face-down, but he too had mentioned the hair. 

Were they trying to replace Theresa with a child who looked similar? And then the looks of the other children didn't matter? They had their replacement and anyone else they took could be written off as done out of the goodness of their hearts?

This was it. This was the tip, he could feel it in his gut. He checked out the details, the address, the names that he had. The names didn't sound exactly right, somehow too generic, snatched from thin air. And when he searched the address the owner was someone different – although that could be the owners and the tenants had missed being listed. The owners might be pulling some kind of scam and that would mean faulty information being supplied to him by the computer. He leaned back in his seat, staring at the computer. He had a feeling about this one and yet he wasn't at all sure that the usual questioning was the way to go here. He would usually go himself with a partner, or send another pair of cops, to ask a few questions. But these two had kidnapped children who could be potential hostages and a history of volatile, violent reactions, not that anyone else knew that history of course. Still, he thought that he could use what was commonly known to back up whatever actions he chose. 

So, not going right there and asking questions, since that would simply alert them that they were under suspicion and perhaps cause them to flee. A stake-out? That might work. But that might also take a long time, if the children really didn't go out much. Time was the one thing he didn't want to use any more of, he wanted those kids back to safety and away from a pair of lunatics, assuming that his gut instinct was the right one and the name wasn't a complete coincidence. 

He tapped his fingers against the desk. It would have been nice had they been able to use some kind of cover story – he certainly wasn't above using his looks to charm a suspect and his favourite way to act was to seem slightly clueless and friendly. He didn't think it would work this time, although he couldn't explain to the other cops why not. From what Ted and Cody had said though, the lady didn't seem charmable in the usual way, the guy was probably going to be suspicious and edgy about any cop at the door, hell, any person at the door. And the kids were unlikely to be able to answer...

Huh. Perhaps it would be a brighter idea to have someone lure them to the door under false pretences, see what happened. Maybe they would see the kids and that would give them the excuse they needed. And if they did a little surveillance, then he could maybe send pictures to Cody, who knew what the woman looked like and had a vague idea about the man. 

But he would have to explain his actions to someone else in the department if he did that – he wasn't about to ask Cody or Ted to help him out here because of the way they might react in the presence of these people and he wasn't asking Randy because he wasn't good with his temper and while he could be very charming, John knew him well enough to be sure in this situation, he would come off as more threatening than anything else. And he'd have to explain his actions, if not his reasoning, to the higher-ups. No civilians could be allowed to get involved in something like this. And he couldn't do it because he was working on the case and if they recognised him from media coverage, they'd know he was on to them. And there was a good chance that they'd been following coverage well. 

His mind ran through the people in the department, good men and women all but perhaps not the best people to talk to about this. They would want to know why. Why he thought this was the lead to go with, why he wanted to be sure. And there was the chance their faces had appeared in some newspaper that he was unaware of and been committed to memory. 

Sighing, John recalled that he had been about to get a coffee for himself. Maybe that was a good idea, would help him think clearly. He hadn't had a drink since his lunch with Evan. That led him to thinking of Evan and Chris and he smirked a little. Good for them. Chris was a pretty good guy and a hard-working cop--

Chris? There was an idea. Maybe Chris could go on the ruse, he was certainly charming when he wanted to be, flirtatious and playful (and he wondered if Chris was going to tone it down now he was with Evan); he would make it his duty to ensure the woman fell in love with him from the go, charm all the details from her he could. And Chris wasn't with John's department and that meant he was less likely to be recognised for what he was. On the other hand Chris could be both arrogant and supercilious, if he met up with the man instead he could really piss him off. Chris wasn't right. 

Of course, there was always Evan. 

Evan worked for the cops, even if he was a techie rather than an actual officer. He was smart, friendly. He was chatty, he could adapt. And he didn't look threatening, not at around five-eight, but John had seen him with his shirt off and knew the younger man was pretty damned buff, on top of that he was some kind of black belt. He wasn't even a little worried about Evan running into trouble. The only trouble would be talking him into it and making him look as unthreatening as possible...

Hell, next you'll be giving him a boy scout uniform and a puppy!

Well, why not? Not the uniform obviously, he didn't think Evan could pass for a teenage boy regardless, but who didn't love a puppy? And it was a damned good excuse. Hey, I found this guy nearby and I just wanted to see if he belonged to anyone before I took him to the vets. No one could resist an adorable, tiny little dog and most would step out to coo over it. It could even lead to conversation. Evan might find out all kinds of things. 

And Evan knew there was something more going on than met the eye when it came to John finding out the information that he had. He knew about the earrings. He knew that John had some kind of source. He just didn't know exactly what that was. So what he would have to do was – well, confess. He had no idea whether or not Evan would laugh his ass off, point-blank refuse or hell, even take it in his stride. He did know that he hadn't wanted to tell anyone about Cody and Ted being involved but it looked like he was going to have to share this secret – at least he was certain that Evan wouldn't be cruel about it, no matter how sceptical he might be. 

~::~

Hearing the knock at the door Evan looked up from his microscope--- and his glasses almost fell off as he jumped in surprise upon finding Chris leaning against the door to the lab. If the blonde man noticed his goofy moment he was kind enough not to comment… although the amused light in his eyes Evan was sure he had placed there.

“Uh, hi,” dammit, why did he have to sound so breathless? “Can, um, can I help you?”

“Well, there is something I do need you to just pass through to fingerprint analysis for me,” Chris mused as he wandered closer to Evan’s desk, leaning against the shorter man’s back and glancing down at the microscope, “But apart from that I just wanted an excuse to come and see you wearing those adorable glasses.”

“Don’t call them adorable,” Evan muttered, cheeks going bright red.

Ordinarily he’d likely pop someone a good kick to the jaw if they called him adorable (especially where his glasses were concerned) but with Chris… surprisingly he just felt fondly exasperated more than irritated, although he didn’t know if he could keep himself wholly composed should the other continue to play that card with him.

“But they are, just like you Evan.”

“Chris—”

“So, how does dinner this weekend sound?”

Surprised by the sudden turn of conversation Evan turned his head, completely forgetting how close Chris was; if the blonde turned his head ¾ of the way to the right then their lips would meet…

“T-This weekend?”

“Yeah. Saturday, I heard from a reliable source our days off actually coincide there.”

Beth… Or Natalya. Damn their good intentioned meddling!

“I, well, I am free on Saturday,” Evan admitted. The extent of his exciting weekend he had planned consisted of doing his washing, cleaning his flat and then probably having a bath and squeezing in some gaming before he collapsed into bed and slept most of his time off away the same way that he always did. Of course he insisted that each and every time he’d do something more and make more out of his leisure time but that never quite happened; something often came up to cut his leisure time short and… planning things to do wasn’t much fun after a while when you were just planning for one.

Chris’ smile made Evan’s stomach clench up, “How about coming to my place then? I make a mean curry.”

“Curry?” Evan perked up; he loved spicy food.

“Not quite as good as the local Chinese,” Chris’ grin widened as Evan blushed and sent a guilty look towards the rubbish that was still in the lab bin from his last indulgence in his comfort/energising mechanism, “But it’s something that friends have said is pretty damned good. And no-one’s died of food poisoning on me yet.”

“Always a plus,” Evan said, mind rather stuck on the fact that Chris was not only offering to have him into his home, but on top of that he was offering to cook for him.

“So you’re interested right?”

It took Evan a moment, but when he saw the glimmer of uncertainty in Chris’ eyes and heard the small lilt or unease in his voice, the ravenette felt his heart going out to Chris; the man was so confident, savvy and all around gorgeous that it had never occurred to Evan when the other had approached him that he might also be feeling nervous on some level.

“I’d love to come over.”

Damn, was that too over-enthusiastic?

If it was Chris didn’t appear to mind if his smile was anything to go by, “Great,” he then set an evidence bag down and squeezed Evan’s shoulder before pulling away, “I’m looking forward to it. Let me know as soon as those results come through yeah?” and then he was heading out of the lab, waving at Evan as he went.

Leaning back in his chair Evan exhaled a breath and rubbed a hand over his face after removing his glasses.

However, before he could bask in his victory (was that the right word for it?) for too long someone else arrived at the door of the lab, knocking and causing Evan to jump again before hastily placing his glasses back on. Maybe he should think about investing in some kind of doorbell so people would have to ring before they entered as opposed to knocking as they entered?

“John, what can I do for you today?”

“I need you to go undercover for me.”


	13. Chapter Twelve: Into The House (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan helps John investigate his lead, and in return the Detective introduces the technician to the two psychics who have been helping him out... Though Evan is more than skeptical.

“What exactly are we doing, Randy?” Ted asked curiously as he and Cody followed Randy down yet another street towards some back shops. Immediately Ted felt somewhat wanly uneasy; Randy had always been more sexually aware than himself, even when they had been teenagers, and given what he had heard (though he’d give them credit for trying to be quiet and at least waiting until he was asleep) from John and Randy the past few nights he wouldn’t have been shocked if Randy wanted to visit… that kind of shop. Even the thought was enough to make Ted’s face heat up, not least because Cody was there. Actually, the fact that Cody was there was probably a sign that he wouldn’t be going somewhere like that right?

“I have something I need to pick up,” Randy muttered distractedly.

“Is he alright?” Cody asked softly, drawing close to Ted and leaning into his ear easily since they were about the same height and all.

Goosebumps immediately broke out over Ted’s skin and he swallowed thickly, hoping he sounded calm as he replied, “No idea.” The other had been fine during breakfast that morning, but then he’d gone into the kitchen and there’d been a clatter and crash as he knocked something over, and then he’d all but flew out of the kitchen saying that they had to finish breakfast sharpish and get going somewhere. He hadn’t explained where but he had seen undeniably concerned about whatever it was.

Cody bit his lip, “I hope everything’s OK…” he had really come to like Randy, and John (and Ted obviously) and he’d feel terrible if something happened because he’d like to intervene and help but at the same time didn’t think that he had too much of a right to.

“I’m sure it’ll be nothing serious,” Ted said, strangely jealous and concerned in his own right.

Needless to say they were both shocked when they found themselves tailing Randy to a surprisingly exclusive looking jewellery store. Curiously they followed him inside where he was hailed most eagerly by a young, perfectly-made-up, perfectly-styled redheaded woman who looked to be middle-aged but was aging well. Or spending decent money to age well anyway.

“Mr Orton! You’re order’s all ready. Would you like to see?”

Ted fought a smirk as he noticed how Randy had to take considerable effort not to give some snide comeback to her comment, instead forcing a smile and nodding. Cody immediately moved behind Randy to see what was inside the elegantly monogrammed black box that the saleswoman was holding, Ted following suit as curiosity got the better of him too once again.

Inside was a pair of dog-tags, shined and polished to perfection.

“Our team crafted it as much as possible to its original state as you requested, though some parts were so far gone we had to replace them entirely.”

“They’re perfect,” Randy murmured, accepting the box. One had the initials J.F.A.C engraved inside and the other had R.K.O in the same elegant script.

~::~

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

John turned, glancing up from the map he had been using to locate the area the tip had come from.

“Of course it is! If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have put you in it?”

“I look like some kind of Little Orphan Annie reject,” Evan grimaced, plucking at the shorts he was wearing. Why shorts he had no idea… but Natalya had agreed with John when the man had asked her if Evan looked ‘cute and approachable’ (something Evan was less than pleased about hearing) and so there he was in shorts, a tight-fitting t-shirt and a hoody that made him look like some gym-goer. Which he was, but Evan’s usual gym outfits consisted of loose, easy to move in tracksuit bottoms and a loose sort of t-shirt.

“If this is about the cute thing… I’m sorry,” John apologised, only realising afterwards how insensitive of him that had been.

“It’s fine,” Evan sighed, rubbed a hand over his forehead; John had explained what he wanted him to do and so he knew that the sweeter and more innocent he looked the more likely he would be able to succeed in the endeavour John had asked him to aid him with. Needless to say Evan hadn’t thought that such on the job field-work would be expected of him. He would have thought the outgoing and approachable Justin would have been more suitable…

But John hadn’t approached anyone but him.

Admittedly Evan was a little flattered by that.

“What was so special about this one tip anyway?”

“Let’s just say it uh, coincides with some other things I’ll need to discuss with you later,” John said, suddenly looking almost shy and defensive which further peaked Evan’s curiosity about what the other wanted to tell him about. Especially something he hadn’t mentioned initially, which wasn’t like John at all.

“John?”

“Honestly Ev, I’ll tell you everything later, but right now we don’t have time.”

“Alright, alright… So you just want me to go up to the door, make out I’ve found an injured animal or something along those lines and try a get a look at the people inside, or try and get them to come out onto the doorstep?”

“That’s about the size of it yeah… And see if there are any children, or even children’s toys inside anywhere.”

“What if they don’t open the door?”

“Then… We’ll need to try something new.”

A slightly wan smile crossed Evan’s face, “Haven’t thought that far ahead then?”

John grimaced, “Not exactly.”

“Right,” Evan swallowed and exited the car, casually jogging towards the house that John had pointed out to him as they had circled the block the first time, aware that John was slowly inching the car forward enough so he would be able to see Evan but would otherwise look inconspicuous placed alongside the few cars that were parked out front of the houses lining the streets. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous because he knew that it was highly unlikely that someone would make a go for him in the house in broad daylight, and if something did go down then he would be able to (hopefully) have John there to intervene before things got too bad. Defending himself was one thing but it would always look better to have police intervention before things could get too rough and Evan was having to defend himself in some civil suit because someone was suing him from breaking their nose.

When he reached the inner part of the front-garden, otherwise hidden by surprisingly tall shrubbery, Evan felt his stomach drop.

TO LET

It was apparent that that wasn’t mentioned in the tip because John clearly wasn’t aware of it. Taking a breath and forcing himself forward Evan plastered a smile onto his face before then knocking on the door smartly. It wasn’t much of a surprise when no one answered, though after about four times of knocking he started to wonder if he was really just being ignored; he hadn’t heard so much as a peep inside and although John had told him the kids were apparently almost unheard and unseen that didn’t make sense. Glancing around Evan then crept across to the front window and peeked inside.

Empty.

Completely and utterly empty.

But it must have been a recent move, his keen eyes noticed, because there were still marks and groves in the carpet where items of furniture had been.

Feeling surprisingly disappointed Evan headed back onto the street, just as someone came out of the neighbouring house. A youngish, but aging before her time mother, with several children in tow, stared at him in surprise as they almost bumped into each other. Offering his most winning smile Evan asked, “Excuse me ma’am, do you know when the people here moved out?”

A startled look crossed the woman’s face, “They’ve moved out? Are you sure?”

Evan stared at her in some disbelief; she was their next door neighbour, how could she not know that they had moved out of the house?

“What’s the matter Ev?” John asked, approaching behind the smaller man and offering a carefully moulded dimpled smile. As was John’s apparent effect on younger mothers the woman flushed and tittered as she introduced herself.

John now found himself face to face with his informant.

~::~

John's mind worked fast. He knew that there was no one around for their cover to be used on, except for this woman and she didn't seem like the type to give up all information about a barely-known neighbour to someone she'd never met. She would for a cop though and they didn't have to fake if their targets weren't there. The thought that they had gone filled John with gloom but he gave his most charming smile. “Good afternoon ma'am, I'm--”

“PUPPY!!”

The pitch was so high that John was surprised anyone but the puppy could hear it, and given the damage it did to his eardrums he rather wished that were the case. One of the children, a wide-eyed little girl of maybe five, broke away from the group of siblings and latched on to Evan instead, almost climbing his leg in her desire to get to the dog. 

“Just be gentle with her,” said Evan with exactly the right amount of warning to sound serious without sounding scary, going onto one knee so the girl could stroke the animal. Clearly taking the words to heart the girl started to carefully pat the puppy and a moment later Evan was surrounded by children. 

“The Pied Puppyman of Hamlin,” said the woman wryly. “I'm sorry. They'll get bored in a minute.”

“It's fine,” said John, indicating for her to back away from the giggling children a moment before taking out his badge. “Probably for the best actually that they're a little distracted. I'm Detective Cena, that over there is my associate Evan Bourne.”

The informant looked doubtfully over her shoulder. “He seems awfully young to be a cop.”

“Well, he's actually a lab technician helping me out.”

That seemed to satisfy her curiosity, although John personally knew a young cop was rarer than a young lab tech. “Did you uh, come to see about the people next door?”

“You're uh, Mrs Howard?” When the woman nodded, John tried for reassuring. “Yes, we wanted to see if they did match a picture that we have, but we also didn't want to cause them any trouble – you mentioned that they were foster carers? We thought it best not to cause them worry if there's no reason for it.”

“That's unusually thoughtful of you,” said Mr Howard with mild suspicion. John thought she probably realised more than he wanted to let on but he refrained from filling her in on any more details. 

“I didn't realise they'd gone,” said Mrs Howard after a moment. “They must have done it – well, the older kids are at school and I'm home with the younger, but on Mondays we go to the local playgroup. Usually we go first thing, stay awhile – there's lots for the kids and they serve coffee and biscuits, it's nice to talk to an adult once in a while and know that the kids are safe and not getting into everything. Well they are, but they're okay to there. We have a late dinner and I get back... ooh, anywhere between an hour and ten minutes before the older ones are back. I saw them last week but I didn't see a mover since, so it might have been then. I don't think it would have been any other time, the mover would have to be there a while, right?”

“You'd think so.” John went through the paperwork he'd brought from the car with him, bringing out the photofit. “This is her? Or at least, you think it is?”

Mrs Howard nodded. “Yeah, this is her. Looks just like her. Except she doesn't ever wear her hair like that when I see her. Those lines on her eyes though, those are worry-lines.” She chuckled. “I got a few of those myself.”

“Don't we all,” agreed John. “Can you tell me about the children you saw?”

“Uh, there was the girl Theresa. Long dark hair, thick, kinda wavy. Beautiful, but you know it'll get chopped off and straightened to hell the moment she turns thirteen... maybe not with that for a mother though. She didn't seem like the type to put up with teenage nonsense. She was dressed old-fashioned. My daughters, they don't like to go out to play in frills and patent-leather shoes, makes it too hard to climb and run and they're the very devil to clean. The little boy was darker, younger. Between you and me, I thought he might be simple. Didn't react to me at all, even though I was standing right here waving.”

“Like he didn't see you.” John nodded, filing this information away in his mind and going through his paperwork again, finding some pictures that hadn't been released to the public for just these occasions. He found a picture of one of his victims, the young boy whose glasses Cody had been tracking him from. It was a long way from the picture that had been shown all over the TV, showing the boy lying on his back on an inflatable in a pool. Most importantly as far as John was concerned, it showed him without his glasses. 

“That looks kinda like him.” The woman sounded slightly uncertain but John had found that often when people were identifying pictures – no one wanted to be wrong and look foolish or get an innocent person into trouble. “Same sorta face, curly hair. But the kid I saw, his hair was longer than this. And he looked a lot more uh, solemn.”

John nodded, knowing that his precautions would probably come to nothing – she had already connected the face on TV with the woman next door and that had been in connection with the missing children. But she didn't seem to have attached this picture to the long-missing child. He pulled out another one, one that would be even less fresh in her memory. This time Mrs Howard was nodding even before he said a word. 

“That's the other one, Theresa.”

John felt a chill. They were onto them, they might be less than a week behind the kidnappers. On the picture Daria smirked at the camera, apparently at a wedding judging by the setting and the manner of dress. He thought of her afraid and being forced to be something other than the apparently vibrant and happy girl that she was and suppressed the scowl that wanted to take over his face. 

“You don't know where they might have gone? If they had family anywhere?”

Mrs Howard shook her head. “I don't know a thing. They barely spoke to me and made it very clear that they didn't want me around.”

One of the children, the oldest if size was a judge, had wandered away from the puppy and was standing by her mother during the last couple of exchanged. She smirked. “You mean Smelly Melly?”

“Kathy!” Mrs Howard shook her head. “You don't speak about people like that!”

“So-rry.” The girl rolled her eyes in a somewhat adult gesture. “She was mean and so we started calling her that. We never said it to her face.”

“The lady next door?” John looked vaguely amused but his eyes were watchful. “Why that name in particular?”

“Her old man yelled it at her.” The girl looked down, examining her nails in a mock casual gesture. “My mom said that there was a girl my age next door, but she never came out and I was bored. Thought she might be shy, like my little bro, he hides behind mom whenever someone smiles at him. So I went over and knocked after school, wanted to see if she'd like to play Barbie or something. Her dad came to the door and he was weird. He gave me a funny look, like there was something nasty on the step and then he yelled for her. Called her Melly.”

John nodded, the smile never leaving his face. “Then you saw her?”

“Yeah.” The kid wrinkled her nose. “She smelled like – well, my friend Heaven's got a brother who's like, fourteen or something. His room smells like that when he's going out to meet his girlfriend and you can walk past and about gag on the deodorant. She smelled like that, only not like a boy obviously. Too much perfume. And she said, what do you want? Like I was one of those Jehovahs. I said, do you have a daughter? I'd like to play with her. And she said, well she's not allowed to play with you.” 

The kid looked angry and John didn't blame her. That was bitchy. “And then she closed the door and I left and I never went over there again. I don't want to play with her stupid daughter. I bet she'd be no fun anyway.”

“Probably not,” said John cordially. “Look, is this picture of Smelly Melly?”

The kid looked down at the photofit. “Could be. Looks like her, except the hair's not right.”

“Uh-huh.” John didn't care even slightly about the hair, hair could look any way at all. The rest of it was what mattered. “And you saw the man?”

“Yeah, course.”

John looked up at Mrs Howard, who was looking quite resigned. John thought she'd realised her day out was about to go out of the question. “I'd like to be able to get a photofit of the man as well. Would it be possible if we could get you down to the station for an hour...?”

“I'll get some toys for the younger ones and some books.” She sighed. “They're gonna be fractious. I promised 'em burgers.”

“Hey, you do this and I'll have someone go out and bring the meals back to the station for them. And dessert. We owe you the gratitude.”

“You'd owe it to me,” piped up Kathy. “And that means I get a bigger meal than the others!”

“Sure,” said John brightly. “Whatever you want.”

~:~

John had to work fast and he had to hope that no one thought to question him much until later. The usual protocol when it came to searching houses was to get a warrant and take in a whole team of forensic investigators, however the landlords had agreed that they could have the key for the moment if they didn't wreck the joint and brought them back in a hurry. John had agreed and Evan had picked them up for him (having changed into something a little less embarrassing) while John took care of the new photofit. Evan excelled himself, returning with the promised burgers as well, much to the delight of the family. Kathy worked on the picture with the artist and John waited until they'd gone before he took a good, long look at the man. He wasn't sure that it was going to help...

“Looks pretty much like your average tramp, right?”

John turned and glanced at Evan, then laughed a little. “I guess. The thing is, she made him sound that way but she sounded really pissed at him. They drew his hair too messy at first and it looks like it's more styled. He's broader than your usual bum. And the beard, when she described it, it sounds like it's designer stubble. Randy grows it sometimes because he knows he can get away with it, it's a good look on him. Not me, I just look hungover.”

Evan laughed. “I feel that way too. Here's the keys. You wanna get over there and see what we can see?”

“Since it's an unofficial search, just to see what we can turn up, we probably don't need much of a kit until we come back with prints or hair.” Or blood he added to himself. “Let's go. Uh, I'll be meeting some people there though. Randy's bringing them down for me.”

“Who?” Evan looked suspicious and perhaps a touch hurt, as if John didn't trust that he could gather evidence out in the field.

“Uh...” John waited until they'd walked far from anyone that might overhear them. “You know the earrings? I found them before Dylan came forward?”

“Yeah?”

“Psychic found them.”

“A psychic.” Evan's voice was flat and slightly disbelieving. 

“Yeah.”

“You're working too hard.”

“That's the thing.” John shrugged his shoulders a little. “I was willing to try anything, you know that. And he came up with something that wouldn't exactly help the case but it tallied with what we knew and what we found out later on.”

“You know how these guys work. They go off little hints, work things out--”

“This guy found those earrings in a bin three days before the kid came forward about the woman and described them.” John sighed. “There's more. He says at least one of these kids is alive. Randy has a friend who it turns out has a few psychic abilities of his own--”

“Oh, this gets better.”

“Not so much from my point of view. He says that our first missing girl is dead. And they both agree that there's a child involved we don't know about, one who bears a striking resemblance to our first two vics. And she's dead too. Maybe there's not much we can do to help those two but the ones that are alive, I'll try anything, no matter how out there, to find them. And get justice for the ones that didn't make it.”

Evan was quiet for a moment. “You really believe this, don't you?”

“Yeah. There's just too much evidence to show they're telling the truth. With Ted, Randy's known him forever and believes him completely and you know what a cynic that boy is. With Cody – well, I got in touch with him before I knew Ted was coming to town or even that he could do what he can. I know neither one of them were around for the kidnappings, they've got cast-iron alibis. They just know things. And I want them on the scene in case they can lead us to the next place to look. I've got no forwarding address for these people and I know they're the ones we're after. False names on the rental agreement, paid in cash. If we can get prints then we know names. We might even be able to catch up to them. But if we have something from them, we might know what to do next.”

Evan nodded. “I think you're dead wrong on this one John. There's science, what we can see. No afterlife, no God, no mutant powers, no mind readers. But I'll trust you with this one, I'll keep quiet. And I'll bet what they have is just vague feelings that could translate to about anything.”

John blinked – he really hadn't expected Evan to be so blinkered. But the younger man at least was going along with it and if he could get the prints or anything else, that could help too.

~::~

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Cody frowned softly, “Won’t John get into trouble if people find out we’re here with him?” they weren’t being officially contracted by the department and thusly were no better than civilians in the eyes of the law.

Randy shook his head, “Don’t worry about it; just try your best and make it worth John putting his neck out to have you both here, right?”

Ted snorted softly, “Great pep-talk man, really top-notch.”

“Shut up.”

The pair fell into what Cody deemed their good-natured bickering, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was going to go wrong. When they pulled up outside of the house that the three of them had looked around before Cody reflexively shuddered; Theresa was probably running around inside of there… and he couldn’t deny that he was somewhat concerned about what he might experience whilst he was actually inside where she had been killed; it had been horrendous enough when he’d experienced the second-hand residue left on the ‘mother’s’ earrings.

But, still, he was there to help… and so he’d do what he could.

Climbing out of the car he was mildly surprised to find John standing there with a man dressed in what appeared to be jogging gear, standing there with an expression on his face that Cody knew well, and really wasn’t in the mood to deal with:

Non-believer.

“Hey,” Randy strode forward, giving the back of John’s neck a squeeze (apparently as affectionate as he was willing to get in the nosey neighbourhood in case someone realised that John was a cop and decided to start kicking up a fuss about what he was doing on the taxpayer’s time with his unclean urges… and that wasn’t wholly piss-taking; people had come up with worse before. “Evan,” he acknowledged the cute, dark-haired man who quirked a friendly smile back, “Randy,” before Randy then turned back to John, “What happened?”

John motioned for them to go in through the archway towards the front-garden; it’d be more private that way and they could get to work whilst he talked since he wasn’t sure how long he was going to be able to keep he and Evan away from the office for long.

“Neighbour thinks the photofit is her,” John reported.

“Except for the hair,” Evan piped up, lagging in the doorway to look to Cody and Ted. “Since those two seem distracted I’ll handle the etiquette part: my name’s Evan Bourne, I’m a technician with John at the precinct.”

Ted offered his hand back, although Cody could see something of a weariness in his eyes too, as though he could sense that they were being confronted with a sceptic, “Ted DiBiase.”

Once Ted had released Evan’s hand Cody put his own out, “Cody Rhodes.”

“Cody Rhodes?” the man repeated, and then grinned before adding, “I’ve read a few of your works.”

Cody’s cheeks turned red, “Y-You have?” it wasn’t often he actually met people who read his books in this kind of line of work; after all, how many cops, or technicians, or whatever, did you expect would read romance bordering on erotica, occasionally delving into erotica? Cody wondered if Evan had read his straight stuff, or the homo-erotica, but he really didn’t think then would be appropriate to ask.

“Mhm, my mum’s a huge fan too,” Evan grinned, seemingly a little bit more approachable too, “Think you could sign a copy of one of your books for me sometime for her?”

A little bemused by the request Cody nodded, “Sure.”

“We should get inside now,” Ted’s tone was surprisingly abrupt as he grabbed Cody’s wrist and pulled him inside through the doorway once Evan had moved aside enough to allow them both passage. The startled technician watched the bemused author being pulled along and gave it a moment before following along. John and Randy were standing in the living-room, making no comment on the fact that the three had been hanging around outside, as though they hadn’t even noticed it.

“So she saw Theresa, and the boy?”

“Yeah… She said he didn’t acknowledge her, even when she waved when he was right there, but—”

“But without his glasses he can barely see, right?” Randy asked, remembering how John had gone on about how panicked the parents were even more so than him being kidnapped, but about him being doubly vulnerable since his glasses had been lost in the struggle. Randy sincerely hoped that the boy’s incapacity wouldn’t come back to haunt him with his glasses out of commission.

“Right,” John murmured, looking around the room.

It was dusty and stale, since the windows hadn’t been open for at least a week, maybe a bit more, but other than that it appeared clean. That was one reassurance at least; the children hadn’t been kept in squalid conditions.

“What’re we looking for?”

“Put gloves on first.”

“What about those little boot-covers?”

“I don’t think it’ll matter,” John admitted, “It’s dry and, well, if anyone asks we can just say you were in here looking,” after all the estate agent had told him (when he had gone to fetch the key) that they had already had a family or two inspecting the place. They must have done that when the neighbours were at the kids’ club or something since Mrs Henderson hadn’t mentioned that.

“Alright…” Randy accepted a pair of gloves from the stash Evan had in the small backpack he had had with him to further add on to him being a jogger looking for a new route and all, on top of finding the puppy. Said puppy was back with its owner now, Natalya, one of their receptionists.

“So what’re we looking for?” sure, he’d seen cop shows and John had gone on about investigations with him before (as much as he was allowed anyway) but it was different to hearing about it (or even investigating it) to being involved in one yourself.

“Suspicious looking stains, or indeed any stains,” Evan piped in then, “Anything broken or out of place, anything really if it doesn’t feel right to you.”

“Nice and specific,” Ted murmured, looking uncomfortable.

Evan frowned slightly, but then smiled again and set off towards the stairs after telling John, “I’ll cover the bedrooms.” After all that was where he was most likely going to get DNA for the parents, or even Theresa, from. Although it appeared that a hasty clean-up had been made around the same time they left Evan was confident that they had a good chance of finding something. Hoovers didn’t get everything and all it took was one leftover hair, and they could establish DNA in their system. Even if she wasn’t an offender prior they would have something to match to her when they caught up to her.

“Alright… Cody, why don’t you take the kitchen?” John said this casually enough but Cody tensed regardless.

“Right.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ted said immediately.

Cody didn’t say it aloud but the look of grateful relief on his face for the offer said enough.

As they padded out of sight Randy asked, “What’s up with Bourne?” the man had seemed surprisingly tense and not quite as bubbly as normal, even for him and even for the circumstances. John sighed, “He doesn’t quite agree with my using psychics… but he’s willing to give us the benefit of the doubt. So let’s just hope there’s something for us all to latch onto huh?”

~::~

“I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”

Ted almost jumped when Theresa’s voice sounded next to his ear, turning to find the girl floating so that she was level with him. Although ghosts could float most of them seemed content to just walk as they had done… only they could walk through solid objects this time around instead.

“Things have developed… we needed to come back and see if we could find some things to help us track down your parents, and prove what happened to you.”

Like the first time he had met her Theresa seemed strangely apathetic about her murder and her foster parents fleeing, “I doubt there’s anything left. I’ve already told you I don’t know what they did with my body right?” she shrugged and then bounced across the room to where Cody was going through the cupboards underneath the sink, “And she cleaned up pretty well before they left.”

“We can only try,” Ted murmured, wishing she was a little more helpful and forthcoming, like Dazzle, but at the same time he couldn’t blame her considering it seemed as though she was essentially being suffocated and suffering a slow death at the hands of her ‘parents’ even in life.

“Did you say something?” Cody had emerged from back underneath the cupboards, shaking his head and grimly commenting that there was nothing under there but a spider or two. He had no idea if they were dead and had little desire to touch them and find out.

“Theresa’s here,” Ted said quietly.

“Oh!” Cody’s eyes widened and he looked around, most likely by reflex considering that he couldn’t see her and all. “Um, is she OK?”

“Never been better. He’s cute, who’s he? Your boyfriend?” the girl grinned wickedly.

“No he is not!” Ted refuted, cheeks blooming red.

Cody blinked, watching as Ted seemed to converse with the side on the opposite side of the kitchen.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed,” she shrugged, still smirking in that triumphant way children did when they had used their unnervingly astute wiles and hit the nail on the head about something the adult wasn’t admitting to. “I mean, I know all about gays and stuff. She never liked them, and neither did he. The lady across the road? She had a girlfriend and they used to say such awful things about her but she was always really nice to me, said hello when I was walking from town and stuff… her kids seemed happy,” she shrugged, “What’s it matter who you fall in love with huh?”

Ted thought it was pretty damned sad and ironic that again he was getting lessons in love from someone who hadn’t been old enough to experience love outside of that for family or a pet, someone who was never going to get the opportunity to put her own advice into words.

Before Ted could chastise the child there was a sudden clattering noise behind him that had Ted whipping around. A cupboard door right beside the door leading out into the hallway to the front door was open, and Cody was on his knees in front of it.

“Cody?” Ted hastened across to him immediately, moving to touch him when he realised that Cody had gone into one of his trances.

His hand was on a tin mop bucket, oddly old-fashioned, a mop still within it even though there was no water.

For the first time Theresa looked nervous, but Ted wasn’t surprised; Cody really did look like he had a hell of a time touching certain objects, and in a situation like this he went through even more. “What’s the matter with him? Is he having some kind of fit?” the child was babbling, trying to hide her concern underneath that invincible bravado all children believed they carried, “I saw the old man that lives near school have one once--- he was twitching and flopping around like this fish I saw on this TV show—”

So much blood.

Cody could see it from her eyes, see the way she desperately mopped and scrubbed, the crimson stain seeming to grow the more she worked it away. Leave it, he had said, leave it and they could just tear up the floors and get out of there--- it wasn’t as though the estate agents were going to be able to keep up with them.

No, no, she had insisted that she could clean it up, that she should clean it up. It was the least she could do, she had insisted, that much they owed the child. He had looked as her as though she had gone insane but then merely left her to it; the scent of bleach was so thick in the end that she almost passed out in her own cleaning bucket, the mop’s white tassels becoming stained a mucky brown colour from the blood and numerous cleaning agents even when she ran a fresh sink of bleachy water and stuck the mop into it overnight.

“T-They cleaned up using this,” Cody managed faintly, and then staggered across the kitchen and flung the window open, sticking his head as close to it as possible and retching between taking great gasps of air.

The sickening sound of Cody hacking drew John and Randy, the two large men almost getting wedged in the door in their haste to get inside; something that apparently distracted Theresa from her panic and instead set her off into fresh bouts of laughter and insightfully mocking commentary.

“What happened?”

“What the hell’s wrong with him?”

“I think he got something off of the bucket,” Ted responded, eyes on Cody and a concerned furrow in his brow, “He touched it and then—“he flapped a hand and John and Randy exchanged a look. When Evan appeared in the door beside the cupboard where Cody had located the bucket he took in the slightly chaotic scene with disbelieving eyes.

“I guess I’m swabbing the bucket huh? Oh, and I found some hair and skin samples upstairs FYI.”


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Into The House (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation inside of Theresa's home continues and a grizzly discovery is made.

“I don't know that you'll get anything from the bucket,” said Cody, a little faintly, reaching out and taking Ted's hand. “Doesn't bleach destroy blood?”

“To the extent that you can't get DNA from it, though you can usually tell it's been there.” Evan mulled on it thoughtfully. “Mop would be better, if that was in direct contact.”

“She left the mop in the bucket overnight.”

“Right,” said Evan and to his credit there was barely a thread of the disbelief he felt in his voice. “But why don't we at least try, see if there's something we can take to court there?”

“Well, he doesn't believe that I'm here,” said Theresa, wandering over to Evan and jumping up in front of him. “Boo!”

“Theresa,” said Ted wearily, getting a bit of a funny look from Evan when he spoke. 

“If Ev found something upstairs, maybe she didn't clean so well up there,” said John. “I'll take you up there and we can go check it out – if you're up to it Cody?”

“Let's get it over with,” said Cody, releasing Ted's hand and heading off after John, Ted following and Randy trailing behind, while Evan remained in the kitchen with the bucket. 

The first room was the bathroom and when John went in, he smirked to see that the plug holes in the sink had been interfered with, the drain removed – Evan, he had no doubt. The younger man had always insisted that plug holes were a fantastic source of DNA because they trapped hair and skin. He turned to Cody. “Think you'll get anything from here?”

“Shouldn't think so, not anything I'd want to get at least.” Cody tried to smile, without much success and John guessed that it had something to do with the task at hand. It couldn't be easy to see what he could and knowing that he might well see something he really didn't want to was probably making him feel ill, the anticipation of seeing something unpleasant maybe even worse than what was seen. 

Or not.

“There's nothing in the bathroom anyway,” said Theresa idly. “Mom and dad shower and I'm not supposed to be in there on my own.”

Ted frowned. “What, not ever?”

“I can pee, but I gotta keep the door open. Or I had to. My mom had to make sure I didn't drown in the bath though.”

Ted wrinkled his nose and saw that the other men were giving him curious looks. He waved them off. It would be easier to explain later and he thought it was more something to do with keeping the child younger than she really was. That would fit in with what they already knew. 

The next room was the master bedroom, the marks of a bed in the carpet but everything else seemed rather generic, as if it had been that way all along. Cody looked around. “Uh, I could see but there's nothing here. Maybe I could get something from the walls or the window sill but honestly? People tend to imprint more on objects than they do on the walls.”

John shrugged. “We can keep looking, see if there's anything else we can use and then maybe try the walls as a last resort.”

They went back out of the room and Ted hung back a little, noticing that Theresa had retreated back to the bathroom. He frowned, looking over his shoulder. “Guys, a moment?” He turned his attention back to Theresa, tilting his head a little. “What's up?”

“I don't go in there,” said Theresa firmly. “That's my old room and I don't hafta go in there no more now I'm not really here. I don't even hafta be in the house--”

“We're all really grateful that you're talking to us,” said Ted hurriedly. 

“Those guys don't even see me!”

“But I can and those guys know you're here. And they're trying to find out what happened to you. No one's gonna ask you to come in here if you don't want but I hope you'll talk to us a little more.” He paused. “This was your room?”

“Yeah, mine and hers.”

“Her?”

“The other Theresa, duh. She showed up to replace me. There were other kids too, but she was there because they needed someone to be me.”

Ted slowly made his way across the landing and sat on the top step, forgetting all about his audience of live, rather bemused men. “There was another one? After you were gone?”

“Yeah, and she was Theresa too. She wore my old clothes and she even looked like me. It was weird. Even weirder than you and you talk to dead kids.”

“I don't suppose you know her real name?”

Theresa laughed a little. “Yeah, actually. She was shouting it one time. She swore real bad, words I never knew even existed. She was standing right where Cody is now and yelling, my name isn't Theresa, it's Daria! Daria, Daria! Stop calling me effing Theresa! Only she didn't just say effing obviously. Mom was real mad at her and she got punished. I bet she didn't do that again, only I wasn't around so much.”

Ted debated asking what kind of punishment was involved and decided at that point that it wasn't important. “Don't you remember what your name was? Before it was Theresa?”

Theresa looked uncomfortable. “As long as I can remember, I've been Theresa. Always.” She touched the wound at the side of her head gingerly, although Ted knew from others he had met that she could stick her hands in there and it wouldn't hurt her at all. “Well... it might be Brandy.”

“Might be?”

“I can remember someone yelling it at me when I was just little. Brandy, quit your hollerin'! That might be me. It might just be something I heard. Only mom wasn't around then and I lived somewhere else. There was another lady there, other kids. I think.”

Ted nodded. “Maybe I can find out something about that.”

“Maybe.” Theresa looked slightly disinterested. “Doesn't matter now though, does it? Not to me and not to anyone else. Ted?”

“What's up?”

“Me and the other Theresa? I don't think we were the only ones.”

“You said there were other children--”

“And they got given names. I mean, I don't think we were the only Theresa's. There was one night, before the other Theresa and after I was gone. And mom came home all but screaming, really upset. I didn't see her like that before, except that once when she was clearing up after me and the mess I made when I bled all over the carpet. Dad was comforting her but he was a bit scared as well, I think. And she was talking about how Theresa was dead. Well duh, not news. Only she made it sound like it just happened. And she said she'd died while she wasn't looking except, y'know, she was totally looking at me. And then dad said he'd get rid of her. And they already got rid of me. And it was a long time after they got rid of me.”

“How long after?” asked Ted through numb lips. 

“A week or two? There's no time really Ted, you should know that.” Theresa started twirling her hair around her finger restlessly. “I won't leave, okay? I know you're trying to find them before they get like me. But I wanna go into the yard at least. I don't like it in here.”

“Even if I don't have to ask anything, I'll still come out before we go, okay?” 

“Okay Ted.” Theresa paused. “I'd like to see you before you leave but you don't have to feel like you have to keep coming to see me. I like being alone. I never really got to be alone, not ever. And it's strange but it's not bad. Not bad at all.”

“I'll do that.” Ted moved aside so that Theresa could move past him – he still didn't want to experiment in touching the dead, even though it might be rude when it was a child he was talking about – and went back over to the others when she bypassed him. 

“What the hell was that?” asked John a little harshly. Randy gave him a slightly blank look and then realisation dawned. John had heard what Ted could do, he'd heard the stories and used the information but he had never actually witnessed it. And it wasn't like seeing someone talk to themselves either; Ted was so clearly talking to someone that it was scary, the mind filling in details and the hairs on the back of the neck rising at the realisation that there was someone else there. Someone that couldn't be seen. 

“Theresa,” returned Ted as if nothing odd had happened. “She didn't want to go in there, it used to be her room. And she was a lot more talkative today than when we met her last. So I asked some questions. You might have another one on the missing list. She thinks her real name might be Brandy.”

“Thinks,” said John blankly. 

“She remembers it being yelled around her house before she went with this Melly. She's maybe eight, so I'd think she was taken at two or three. She might be on some missing person database...” He sighed. “And I think that Dazzle died not long after she did. And then the other girl that went missing came here, then the other kids. You have to understand, sometimes dead people can tell you their stories and sometimes all they knew is all they know. There are no sudden flashes after death, no way of seeing from a new perspective. What you knew then is the same thing known afterwards, although there might be something once the spirit leaves the earth.”

“It's worth looking at,” said Randy determinedly. 

“You're right,” agreed John. “It's just – it's a bit strange seeing it first-hand, if you know what I mean. And you both shouldn't be here after I asked you to back away but I'm chasing my damned tail here if I don't. It'd be a little easier if you walked around looking like FBI.”

“Not how it happens John,” said Cody. 

“I guess not,” said John, noticing that Ted and Cody were holding hands again. Regardless of how their date went the other night, it was clear they were drawing strength from one another now. He wasn't sure they even realised they were doing it. “Codes? You ready to go in here?”

“Now that I know what might be waiting in there?” Cody chuckled. “No. Let's do this.”

He walked in first, looking around. Nothing. The room was clear of all furniture save for a built-in wardrobe at one end of the room that a coat of white paint couldn't save from the splinters sticking through. The paint job on the wardrobe was a poor one to match the walls, a pale pink that was perhaps supposed to look delicate and instead made the place look as if it had been abandoned years before rather than less than a month. John noticed that there were no marks made by blue-tack that might have held up posters, no nails in the walls for pictures. That was a rare thing in a child's room. 

“Nothing,” he said dispiritedly. 

Cody ignored him, walking toward the wardrobe and pulling it open. There were no clothes within, merely the hangers that were impossible to steal, as if it was a hotel room or something. And to everyone's surprise, Cody actually climbed inside the wardrobe, squatting down on the floor. 

“What the--” John started to speak and Ted hushed him quickly. John did as he was bidden, remembering how Cody hated to be interrupted. 

Cody barely sensed them in the room. The wardrobe was bare, but there was something at the bottom of the wardrobe, carved into the wood. Words that he couldn't read, written on the wood in cheap biro but the force behind the writing was enough to carve it into the wood. Lightly Cody brushed his fingers against the words and felt someone else's thoughts crash into his head. 

Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate...

Hate it here. Hate that bitch. HATE IT. Hate the stupid clothes, hate the nasty food, hate that she never leaves me ALONE, hate that she doesn't let me go out. Worse than the last fucking foster home, hate it here, hate that bitch. 

Doesn't matter. I'm gonna get outta here and then I'm gonna do something to fuck her up, him too, fuck them both all the way over. Cry to the cops or something. Tell them what happened to their other daughter, the one they say I'm gonna be now. I'm no one else, I'm ME and I'm gonna teach them BOTH a lesson...

Cody didn't know that he was talking but Ted went cold when he heard the way Cody mumbled under his breath, as if he couldn't stop himself. “Hate her, hate her...” It was unnerving. 

Cody didn't realise the effect he was having on Ted, he didn't even know that he was saying anything. He had the image of a girl, crouched in the bottom of the wardrobe, letting out her ire in the only way she knew how. He moved his fingers to another part of the wall, a part that seemed to be done later on judging by the height and the placing and felt the slightly diminished but still strong thoughts coming from them. 

Hate her. Thinks she can break me? Bitch doesn't know. I can outlast her. Hate her. Hate it here. If I can get free, get out... HATE HER! Wish my mom was here, she'd stab her with the knife under the bed. Hate Melly. Not my mom and I'm not Theresa, I'm ME and I hate her...

Cody withdrew his hands sharply, feeling sudden hunger, tiredness, fear, residual feelings of the person who'd written this. Shaking a little, he moved his hands to another part of the writing. 

Hate it. Hate it. Hate myself. Don't wanna be like she wants but if I don't, if I don't...

There was no more to feel there, nothing but mumblings and fear and a bone-deep weariness that seemed unlike the other images and yet were unmistakably from the same source. Cody touched another part of the wood cautiously. 

The other kids, they'll get me into trouble, replace me. They gotta be good, they gotta be or else we all get into trouble...

There wasn't much more. Cody leaned further down, trying to read what was written there. The most obvious, the words almost carved, just said HATE over and over again, the work of a child who had troubles before any of this. Later words were something else, the writing less decisive and barely there. But he thought he could see the word HELP instead of HATE.

“Cody!” John's voice was sharp. “If there's something in there we can trace, please come out!”

Cody all but crawled from the wardrobe, pulling himself up. “I don't know that there's anything Evan can get from there but – the other girl, Daria, she was in there. And she was scared. But I don't have anything recent, that I can find, no clue to where they went!” He rested his forehead in his hand, thinking it over. “But she knew something about Theresa, or Dazzle maybe, one of them. And she's a cynic, that one. I'm not sure she'd have bought it if they'd just told her. I think they had proof. Something. I don't know what. I need more.”

~::~

“Don’t overdo it.”

Under other circumstances Randy might have teased Ted for his sudden bout of protectiveness over the other psychic that he had seemed so determined to hate initially, but as it was he found himself much too concerned by everything that was happening to deem it an appropriate time and place.

A brief smile was sent in Ted’s direction but then his face turned serious again.

“Anything for me?” Evan appeared in the doorway, though he was looking at Cody and Ted with a significantly more weary expression now.

“We don’t know Ev… There’s some writing in the wardrobe, can’t see much else.”

The tech got to his knees carefully and lifted a small but powerful torch up so that he could read what Cody had been reading. Of course he didn’t get nearly so much out of it. “I’m no handwriting expert but I’d definitely say it was a child’s… pass me that camera please.”

“A polaroid?” Randy asked curiously as John reached into the backpack and handed Evan the requested item.

“Uh huh,” Evan said, “Easier to get immediate physical copies we can work on, and then I’ll use the smaller digital camera to upload he photos and make larger versions to be used in court, or for further analysis.” He lifted the camera, John holding his torch steady to keep the words illuminated since Evan momentarily needed both of his hands elsewhere, and then snapped several shots in quick succession which developed almost instantaneously.

“I think we should get pictures of every room in the house,” John said in a business-like fashion.

“I got some of the bathroom and master bedroom when I was in them before, I’ll just need to go back into the hallway and other bedroom and then do the rooms downstairs. And the garden, if you’re wanting that.”

“Yeah… I take it you did take the plug out then?”

“Drain part? Of course.”

“Shame we can’t use luminol…”

“Depending on how long they’ve been gone and how well they cleaned up it might not show.”

“Can’t we use it?” Ted asked, having long since experienced how useful that revealing agent could be for an investigation.

“This is an unofficial investigation so no, probably not… even though the estate agents have given us permission to look around I’m technically not on a warrant so—”

“But what if the estate agents were your excuse?” Randy inputted.

“How’d you mean?” Evan cut in before John could ask the same question.

The tallest of their little group was frowning in thought and even despite the inappropriate situation John couldn’t help but reflect on the fact that there appeared to be no expression that made Randy appear unattractive. It was both a gift and a curse to be loved by such a physically perfect, spoiled and inherently generous man; the amount of people that chased after him of their own accord was ridiculous sometimes.

“Well, you have permission to be here and surely warrants for searches are usually when someone won’t give you permission right?”

“Well,” John conceded reluctantly, “That’s true.”

“So, since we’re not ripping up carpets or anything why can’t we just spray the kitchen and bathroom? If blood shows up you can do some kind of anonymous tip-off, get the proper warrant and come back and start tearing the house apart really looking for things.”

Evan suddenly looked doleful, “You do realise any defence lawyer’s just gonna try and get all of these initial findings thrown out anyway?”

The grim expression on John’s face said he knew full-well that Evan was right, but he still said, “I’m counting on the fact there’s kind involved that a judge might be more inclined to see things our way when he get these two.”

“I haven’t got much luminol…”

“Cody, you know whereabouts she was in the kitchen right?”

Cody bit his lip, “I think so—”

Slowly, a little hesitantly, John turned to Ted, “Is… Can you ask Theresa where it happened?”

“How is she going to know where she died, John?” Ted asked a little darkly, “She probably doesn’t know where she fell.”

Cody placed a light hand tentatively on Ted’s upper-arm, “He was just asking.”

Most surprisingly to Randy, Ted relaxed under the contact instead of shrugging it off and flinching away the way he was wont to do to anyone he didn’t know especially well. It seemed Cody had crossed over into acceptable territory for sure since their date.

“I can try.”

A small smile touched Cody’s lips.

“I just don’t want to be wrong…” John murmured and glanced at Evan, “There may be a small chance something survived right?”

Evan looked dubious but nodded, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Way to sound enthusiastic Ev,” John muttered.

“Sorry.”

Randy rubbed John’s shoulder lightly, “Cool it babe.”

Under other circumstances hearing Randy of all people calling John a pet name it may have seemed funny, but as it was the other three men kept themselves quiet. Briefly John placed a hand over Randy’s own and then started towards the back-garden, “Randy, come with me OK? Evan, Cody, do you two mind sticking in here with Evan?”

Ted wanted to roll his eyes but managed to refrain; could John get any more obvious?

~::~

“What do you think you’re gonna find out here?” Randy asked, slightly unnerved by the garden; it was like one of those plastic-looking perfect gardens that were usually seen only in house-keeping magazines from the fifties. The glass seemed slightly overgrown now but had the remaining indications of having once been perfectly level and smooth. There were no dead patches or dirt patches to indicate anything (like children’s toys, or even a garden shed) had been placed over any of it and caused the grass to die away. Although, considering from what he’d heard about the couple who lived in that home the children weren’t eve dressed like children, let alone aloud to act like children.

Which would explain the perfect garden and lack of children’s toys.

“Not even so much as a dolly left behind,” John muttered, as though sharing in Randy’s thought process.

“Weird ain’t it?”

“Beyond.”

“It’s just… not natural. Kids are supposed to have toys, and play—”

“Not to be played with, as though they are the toys.”

Randy scuffed his foot against the ground, glancing back towards the kitchen’s back-door, eyes narrowing momentarily as though he was somehow hoping he would suddenly acquire x-ray vision and be able to see past it. “Why did those two have to stay behind with him?”

John blinked, “I thought you liked Evan.”

Randy levelled his lover with a look, “I don’t like the fact that I’ve left Ted alone with a sceptic.”

“Ted’s a big boy.” John said lightly and then exhaled, “And what about Cody?”

“Cody… He’s not like Ted when it comes to his abilities.”

Randy paused suddenly and cocked his head to the side, “Are you hoping something will happen?” John usually didn’t do things without considering the consequences, but when he was pushed into a corner he went with his gut-instincts and that was that regardless. It was something Randy had both hated and admired when it came to his lover because he had ended up getting shot once, twice, because of his reckless and headstrong ways. Emotions, emotions, that was John’s strong and weak points all in one.

“What makes you say that?” John wasn’t looking at him, he was looking around the garden with that same intense expression that he had when his mind was elsewhere but he’d retained enough awareness to comprehend the fact that Randy was still talking.

“John…”

“Everything will be fine. We’ll just wait a few more minutes OK?”

~::~

“So… Uh, where did she say she died?” Evan asked after some hesitation.

“I haven’t asked her…” Ted said a little wearily.

Cody glanced between the two awkwardly and rubbed a hand over the back of his head; it was one thing to be around Ted after everything that had happened between them up to recent date, but to be around someone whom Ted was so hostile too because he was clearly disbelieving of what they could do.

“Um… As far as I can tell she landed around here—“he moved across to a corner where there was a blank space in the wall but a shadowed indent which implied there was something like a radiator or something else large there at one stage. It could have easily been something like a small fridge or freezer because he couldn’t exactly say he knew things specifically by the shape of mucky marks in the wall.

“Huh…” Evan moved around the two of them and crouched down, pulling out a long-stemmed cotton swab and a small tube with a clip-secured lid. Rubbing the swab between some of the linoleum tiles that comprised the kitchen floor Evan placed the end of the swab into the pot and clicked the lid down, breaking the swab and the top two inches of the stick with it. This process was repeated about five times, maybe more… it was so repetitive Cody blanked out after a few minutes.

“Something the matter?” Ted asked dryly.

Evan looked up. His face turned into a guarded mask a moment before he smiled, “No… I was just thinking that John must be pretty desperate for all the help we can get on this case. He’s never thought of consulting psychics before.”

“You say psychic like it’s a dirty word.”

“You’ll excuse me for not being overly convinced by it. I believe it what I can see and what I can touch, what is real.”

“Who says that we don’t experience things that are real?” Ted demanded, face turning tense. It was unfair that such an expression made Ted seem even more handsome when it was likely yo make someone else look borderline grotesque.

“Well… You don’t. You get feelings.”

Cody sensed that Evan didn’t mean to say it quite so disparagingly but at the same time he also couldn’t help but feel rather offended by it.

“Feelings?” Ted scowled.

“Wow, are you mad Ted?” Theresa easing through the ceiling like something from a sci-fi flick only attracted Evan and Cody’s attention when Ted looked up and remained looking there. “I bet you wish you could have done that when they were here huh?”

“It would have been handy,” the child admitted, standing around where Evan had been swabbing.

“Theresa…”

“That was where I died, yeah.”

“How did you…?”

“I heard you talking,” she stuck her tongue out, “I can hear you talk no matter where I am,” her expression then turned perplexed, “Unless I try to make it so I’m not here.”

Confusedly Ted asked, “When you what?”

The child started to hover in the air, about level with a stool, crossing her legs in a surprisingly feminine gesture considering how brusque and tomboyish she otherwise appeared. “It’s like… I can be here, but not here,” she gestured vaguely with her hands and then left it at that.

Ordinarily Ted would have likely said something, but since he was dealing with a dead child he managed to hold himself back.

“I see. So, we’re in the right spot?”

“Yep.”

“Do you know where the statue is?”

“Oh-“her hand went to the wound on her head and Evan and Cody watched as Ted shuddered even as he seemed to be making a real effort not to do so. “They didn’t get rid of it with me, I remember that…” she had been dead on impact, yes, but at that same moment almost it was as though she lifted right from her body and was standing over it, watching herself.

It had been surreal, but nowhere near as scary as she had thought… she had felt free.

“Where did they put it?”

“He buried it… I don’t know why; he used to go crazy if any of us even stood on the grass when he’d mowed it. Neither of them cared about flowers and stuff, or vegetables, but he seemed really obsessed about the grass… He laid some down, afterwards, it was like watching unrolling a carpet. I thought it was fake but… It gets wet the same way the other grass does.”

“Outside,” Ted said suddenly to Cody.

“What is outside?” Evan demanded.

“The murder weapon.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“You got an issue? Leave.” 

~::~

Evan blinked a couple of times. “Hey, I'm the one who's verifying this information you're supposedly channelling. How the hell would you know where the murder weapon is? How do you know there's even been a murder?”

“The victim told me,” replied Ted coldly, tilting his head a moment. “She also says you're a real pain, by the way.”

Evan looked around the room and then back at Ted, clearly annoyed. “You think you can find this murder weapon outside? You go for it and maybe we'll have something to work with. If you can find it.”

“Watch me.” Ted sniffed haughtily and walked out of the kitchen. 

Cody sighed. “You could be at least a little less antagonistic about it.”

“You don't honestly believe he talks to dead people.”

“Hey. I can touch stuff and find out where it's been and what the person touching it can be doing. I don't doubt anything he can do. Not least because he's proved over and again that he's always accurate.”

“If he finds something I can get prints or blood off of, I'll apologise to him and his spirit guide. Otherwise, I can't buy that he'll find anything out there. If I was pressed, I might be able to believe that people leave an imprint on stuff they've touched – like fingerprints or DNA, I suppose I could buy that if the proof was there. But consciousness stays in the body and once the body dies, the mind goes with it.” Evan looked slightly rattled and glanced out of the kitchen window. “Is he really gonna look for it?”

“I imagine his spirit guide could lead him there,” said Cody sarcastically, then softened a little – he was used to meeting scepticism after all and he knew how it was to be faced with it; there was something about the relentless logic that sometimes made him feel that he was crazy and knowing that he could do something that seemed impossible, well, didn't all crazy people say that? And while there were those who were blindly sceptical, hysterically denouncing him even when he had proven beyond doubt that he had seen something, Evan struck him as someone who needed proof before he believed anything at all. 

He might be about to get it. 

“Look, Ted'll find what's out there. And if I could touch it I could maybe find out names for our perps. I mean, I've had to go off what the kids know about them and it's hard to read some of the energy they leave behind...”

“If there's something out there, I don't know that I'd be able in good conscience to let you touch it. DNA evidence and all.” Evan shrugged, then frowned. “Not that he'll find anything of course.”

“And if he does, you'll believe that he put it there himself?”

“He'd have to have done it a long time ago, there's nothing wrong with that grass. No sign of it being tampered with.” Evan shook his head. “We'd better follow him. But if he doesn't find anything, and I can't imagine that he will, then what we have here is another dead end.”

“Not really,” said Cody quietly. “After all, there's blood traces in the bucket and on the mop, isn't there?”

Evan looked startled. “Well, I found something...”

“And the writing on the wardrobe.”

“That could have been done by anyone at any time.”

“But it indicates a child, recently. And I went right to it.” 

“Look, Cody...” Evan spread his palms, almost gesturing surrender. “I have an easier time believing you than him. That's all. And I don't think that you're getting signals either. I think you just pick up things that others don't. You're observant and maybe you don't notice the signs on a conscious level but on some level you do--”

“So I'm smart but mental?” Cody really didn't want to continue the conversation any longer, otherwise he might end up saying something he regretted, or else reeling off his resume. That would be a bad thing all around, given that he didn't really want to convince a person who didn't believe him through words. He could do it well enough through his actions usually. “It's okay, you don't need to answer that. Let's chase after Ted. He probably hasn't managed to tell the others what he's up to so we can run interference for him.”

~:~

Ted was pissed at the technician but he was smart enough not to be overly hostile about everything. He'd said it to himself a million times that it wasn't worth it in the past and he'd met hostility far worse, but there was a part of him that actually thought Evan seemed a nice enough man and he didn't like to think that he was so hard-headed. And he had always thought that atheists were a little strange anyway, people who thought of God as a fairy tale rather than a comfort. He didn't believe that humans just ended, he couldn't. It seemed opposite to everything he had learned as a child and everything he knew from a more personal experience with the deceased. Even if there was no big beard in the sky, no heaven and hell, he knew there was something more to a person than a brain that functioned only as part of the body and died when it did. He called that part of the mind a soul in deference to his own religious beliefs, but he was just as happy with those who called it an energy, or a spirit, or whatever. It was only when that was denied that he became truly uncomfortable and the denial from Evan hadn't made his mind more comforted. 

John and Randy were already in the garden, stopping their conversation when they saw Ted come out but keeping their distance as the blonde looked out over the garden. He felt rather than saw Theresa emerge at his side. 

“Are we gonna show that Evan a thing or two?” she asked. 

“Only if you want to. And only if you can remember where it is. But Theresa, it would really help. We want to find those two not just because of what happened to you, but because there's others involved now. There's at least one other girl dead, you know that. And other children with them whose families are frantic. We need to get them before they can do any more damage. Before some other kid ends up dead and – and happy about it.”

Theresa shrugged. “I can show you more or less, but you shouldn't dig up the garden.”

“They're not coming back so he won't be mad.”

“And if he is, you'll be the one in trouble this time.” Theresa gave a wan smile and made her way to the lawn, turning in a circle as she checked the area out. She pointed at the grass. “This is the new strip. You see? There's almost a join, I suppose you'd call it.”

“I see it,” agreed Ted as he joined her, unaware that John and Randy were getting closer and listening hard. “Where about exactly, do you know? I don't wanna spend the whole day digging really. It's getting late and we're only supposed to be looking, not wreaking havoc.”

“Um...” Theresa looked over at the flower beds. “It was near these white flowers, but back a bit. Y'know? Just a bit further away from the house. So he'd be uh, right there! Where you are now. Kneeling down and burying it, but he was facing the house. Near there.”

It wasn't a great amount to go on and it might not end up being especially accurate. The area Theresa had pointed out wasn't vast but if he missed by an inch or so, it might as well be a square mile. Frowning, Ted looked up and saw John nearby. “Is there a shovel? Or a, what do you call it, trowel? That'd be better. Can you maybe borrow one if there's none here?”

“There's a shed,” said Randy before John could reply. “The keys are with the others.”

John nodded. “Can we please keep the digging to a minimum? If there's nothing there I'll have some explaining to do.”

“There's something there,” said Ted. “Somewhere at least... I'd know more if I could find it.”

Rolling his eyes, John went to the shed and let himself in. There were tools there and most of them seemed to be relatively well looked after, although some were more used than others. No lawnmower, he noticed, in spite of the care in the lawn. Still, they were more expensive than a rake and a fork. He found a trowel that looked like it hadn't seen much action and took it back out to Ted, thinking that the lawn might be lush and verdant but that care hadn't extended to the struggling flowers that hadn't been planted recently if the trowel was anything to go off. It was a weak looking thing and half the price sticker was still attached and only slightly dirty. 

When he got back Cody and Evan had emerged too and Ted was where he had been, kneeling on the ground and looking from a sorry clump of white flowers to a spot over his shoulder and back again, moving maybe a fraction of an inch on occasion and looking uncertain. He handed the trowel over and Ted thanked him rather absently, marking out a rough square in the grass and looking over his shoulder again. That alone was creeping John out. He knew who Ted was communicating with. 

Cody walked over to him, keeping a wide berth from the patch of air that Ted was looking at. “This is where it is?”

“This is where it is,” said Ted. “Somewhere around here...” He shrugged. “We think. Theresa knows it was near these white plants but she didn't exactly mark the spot. And we don't have anything that might locate it in the ground. I might have to just dig, take my chances. Hope for the best.”

Cody knelt beside him, looking over the square drawn out in the grass. It would be better in a couple of days, grown over again, but it still looked wrong to him on the otherwise flawless grass and he wasn't sure why that was. But it didn't take him long to figure it out. Ted only had Theresa's word to go on to find where the statue was located and in this case, Theresa was wrong. 

“Ted, wait.” 

Ted stopped, looking at Cody inquisitively and Cody had to look down at the grass and not meet the look. If he let himself meet Ted's eyes right then he was going to kiss him and that would be highly inappropriate, given the circumstances and the men nearby and the child who he knew was there too. But the temptation was still there and he suddenly wished they were gone from this house, from the situation and he could get Ted alone somewhere he could give in to that impulse. 

“It's not there,” he explained after a moment, when he had recalled what he had been saying. “It's not in the square.” He put his hand on the patch of land and shook his head. “Nothing at all that I can feel down there.”

“You can't always get something off the objects--”

“I know but I can usually tell the ones I will,” said Cody, a little distractedly. Ted recalled the scene upstairs, the way Cody had been able to go straight to the place the child's writing had been and wisely kept himself quiet. Cody ran his hand through the grass, Ted moving backward a little so that Cody could feel his way through the blades. A couple of yards from where Ted had marked the ground, right where Ted's feet had rested as he knelt, Cody stopped, his breath catching. “Down there. Right under here, there's something down there.”

Ted regarded him sharply. “Far?”

“Not far.”

“Right.” Ted shoved the trowel into the earth right beside Cody's hand and Cody moved back slightly, allowing Ted to dig. There hadn't been too much rain of late but the grass had been well-watered in the past and the soil beneath was surprisingly moist. It took barely three minutes before Ted's trowel struck something buried there.

“John,” he called out. “I've got something.”

John hurried forward, Evan going with him with an eyebrow raised. In the house he had been putting on latex gloves and removing evidence bags the moment he got a call but he wasn't doing that out here and Ted might have been irked had he not had more important things on his mind. He put the trowel aside and started using his fingers to clear a path away from whatever was down there. Theresa hadn't said much about the place she had landed and the object that had killed her but he had expected something small, something that might sit on a ledge or a mantel. This seemed – well, huge for what it was. Maybe a little under a foot tall, although it was hard to judge with it being in the soil the way it was. 

“That's enough Ted,” said John, not unkindly, ushering both him and Cody away before they could do anything to the evidence. Carefully he donned a pair of gloves of his own and started working on loosening the object, Evan standing by the deepening hole ready to give help should it be needed. But John had worked at this kind of thing long enough and he spent almost ten minutes freeing what was there from the grip of the soil. Once he had it he simply held it up, knowing that Evan would want to give the order for what he wanted done with it. And John had no doubt that Evan would want this particular piece of evidence. 

The statue was close to a foot tall, some kind of mock-granite, the kind of thing that was supposed to look very expensive and classy and perhaps would have done had it not been painted in an ode to poor judgement. The figure showed a blank-eyed angel caught mid-flight, one foot off the ground and the other in the act of leaving. It's wings were disproportionately small, arched backward. In one arm, close to its chest, was an infant of maybe two looking more terrified than comforted and judging by the redness of its cheeks, in the latter stages of carbon monoxide poisoning. It seemed to be some crazed mish-mash of styles and ideas and John would have passed it by in a shop with barely a glance, or maybe the slightest grimace of disdain. But none of the ugliness caught his attention. That was reserved for the angel's right arm, the one not carrying the infant. 

The hilt of a sword was visible in its closed fist, the handle still there and maybe a few centimetres of the sword. The rest was missing but John was willing to bed that it had been long, pointed, sharp and oversized, no small dagger to protect but the kind of fiery sword that people liked to consider smiting the unrighteous. But most of the sword itself was missing. And there was something more than oil crusted on the remnants of the sword, the angels hand, drops and splats elsewhere on the statue. It would be impossible to make a snap judgement because of the soil still clinging to it and particularly to those parts, as if there was something sticky to attract it, but John would bet the results would come back blood. 

Theresa's blood. 

Evan made no move to examine the statue, to take swabs or to bag it safely so it couldn't be contaminated. Instead he looked at it for a long time and then his eyes rose to take in Ted and Cody. His face had gone white.

“How did you know?” he asked faintly. “How could you even know that was there?”

Ted looked over at Cody, who met his eyes with unspoken communication. Both of them were very used to that exact question, no matter how many times they explained beforehand. When the inexplicable happened, the first question was always how. And sometimes there would be more questions and sometimes there were frantic, angry rationalisations but that sudden shock was always, always the first reaction. 

“Cody felt it,” Ted replied, more casually than he felt. “And I was told. We explained that already. That's how we knew.”

~::~

Finally, John was the one to prompt Evan, “Ev? Bag?”

The technician continued to stare at Ted and Cody for several long seconds even with the prompt before then pushing himself out of his daze to reach into his bag for another set of gloves, a few swabs and two paper bags as well as a roll of evidence tape. The man set about collecting numerous swabs of the stains as John held the statue still, photographing where they had found it, and the statue itself. He still seemed pale and although no one called him out on it they could see that his hands were shaking slightly as he placed the photos and camera securely back into his bag. Awkwardly they managed to fit two paper bags around the item, Evan using the luminous crime tape to seal the bags together. Parts of the statue were likely to rip through the bag before long but neither Evan nor John seemed especially bothered.

Why paper bags? Despite having worked with numerous police forces in the past Cody had never entirely understood why they used paper bags and not much else, except for the occasional plastic re-sealable bag, but he didn’t think then would be appropriate to ask.

“We should get back to work,” Evan said faintly as he stripped off his gloves and shoved them into his bag, taking John’s and doing the same so that he could dispose of them properly at work… you’d be surprised about the things that were done to peoples gloves by anyone who found them and knew enough from watching CSI and stuff how to extract prints. “I can run that through DNA and see what we can come up with… and you need to go back and talk to Hunter.”

“Ah fuck…”

“No need to be like that.”

John glanced back at Randy, Cody and Ted and then glanced back to Evan, “I’ll catch up to you in a minute?” he started and Evan rolled his eyes without much heat before nodding his head.

“Yeah yeah I know, I’ll meet you at the car…” he nodded at Randy, “Nice seeing you again. Uh… nice… meeting you both.”

Ted released an almost inaudible snort that sounded just like he was clearing his throat before offering a smile without much feeling to the techie; clearly Ted was aware of people and how they treated him but he didn’t appreciate it even so, “Nice to meet you too.”

“Good luck with looking at the statue,” Cody added with a little more enthusiasm, hoping to extend the hand of peace; the last thing he wanted was for Evan to turn on John regarding them because he had been offended by something either of them had said or done, and although it might be insulting to Evan for him to think so he didn’t know the man to believe otherwise.

“Yeah, thanks,” a ghost of a smile appeared on the smaller man’s face before he turned and started out of the garden as quickly as he could manage whilst still maintaining an air of casualness.

Silence hung between the foursome even after Evan was out of sight until Ted broke it with a slightly weary, “He seems like a nice guy.”

John immediately looked a little defensive, “I know he may not seem too great to you but he’s the best that we have in the field and I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else to come with me. Surely you can appreciate him being a little leery? I mean… it’s not every day you get asked to consult with psychics,” most of whom didn’t have good reputations in the field of dealing with police, “—and then to have you both do something as stunning as finding the murder weapon.”

“I thought he was going to accuse us of planting it for a while,” Cody admitted.

Randy, who had otherwise been silent up to that point, staring at the hole in the ground where the creepy angel had been buried, looked up then with an incredulous expression on his face, “But there’s no way he could have said such a thing!”

“Oh he was hinting at it,” this time though Ted sounded more tired and resigned than annoyed, something Cody sympathised with. Slowly he reached out and placed a hand on Ted’s lower-arm, the blonde quirking a faint smile in response before placing his hand over Cody’s. Though the contact only lasted about thirty seconds it made Cody feel like king of the world, and Randy once again found himself reiterating that Ted had never warmed up to anyone the way he had Cody now that he had allowed himself to lower the walls a little and let him in.

“Well I did rather spring you two on him…”

“You don’t have to make excuses, I’m just saying,” Ted shrugged.

Randy exhaled a soft breath and directed a look at John that said plainly he should quit whilst he was ahead otherwise this was going to get very messy very quickly. And since his boyfriend and oldest friend had otherwise been getting on so well recently he didn’t want anything to send the progress backwards. And, well, it was a plus that Ted wasn’t pushing Cody away because of what had happened with Evan’s scepticism since he had born his own towards said other psychic when they had first met.

“Shall we go wait in the car too Ted?”

“What?” Ted blinked, looking up as he brushed down his knees.

“I said,” Cody started back towards the house so they could go, “We should go wait by the car.”

“But Randy—“Ted started and then seemed to catch up. He nodded slightly and then bid John a swift goodbye, took Randy’s keys from him so they could get into the vehicle without having to resort to coat-hangering the lock and hot-wiring the dash, before then following Cody out of sight.

Once they were alone Randy levelled John with a reassuring smile, “Well, that’s good progress right?”

“Yeah… I just have a bad feeling explaining it to Hunter is going to get me a lecture and the sickening news that none of this can be used in court when we finally get our hands on these sickos.” He looked so crestfallen that Randy couldn’t help breaking their work-intimacy boundary a little by enveloping his lover into a brief embrace, fleetingly pressing their lips together.

“What have I told you? Being pessimistic doesn’t suit you even a little.”

“But it’s true—“he started before quieting.

“Shall I expect you home tonight then?” he asked with a bit of a wan expectancy, a small smile already tugging at the corner of his lips that said he knew what the answer was going to be even before John said anything. Not that the man actually had to say anything; his face said it for him.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Randy shrugged; there wasn’t anything he could do about the demands of John’s job after all, and kicking off about it was only likely to increase tension between them that would subsequently manifest into something unfixable until they couldn’t even stand to look at one another anymore… Yeah, he’d been watching too many daytime soap operas with his time off. In his defence that was all they seemed to put on TV for the unemployed and chronically bone-idle/ill.

“Just be safe, and catch these assholes right?”

John managed a smile then, seeming rejuvenated by Randy’s words, and ducked in for a swift kiss before having Randy exit before him so that he could lock up after them all and return the keys to the estate agents before they headed back to the office.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Good Children Be Still

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see a glimpse into John and Melina with the children. Meanwhile John makes a call to Dwayne Johnson whilst Ted and Cody have a more relaxed date-night.

“Is John alright?”

“Yeah,” Randy said, pulling up outside of the apartment and exiting the car with a bag of McDonalds in his hand. Ted and Cody followed, Cody carrying their drinks and Ted carrying a second bag (despite everything that had happened earlier they communally admitted they were hungry on their return journey and even though each man begrudged the way they were going to have to work off the meal afterwards they couldn’t deny that they wanted it) as he followed them up to go inside. Cody had said that they could just drop him back at the hotel if they wanted but neither would hear of it and so he found himself camping out on the two-seater the same way he had when he’d first been invited to spend extended time in Randy and John’s place.

“I hope this helps them…” Cody bit his lip contemplatively as he took the straws from their wrappers and then pierced the drinks lids.

“It’s got to,” Randy said firmly, “If anything it should help convince John’s superiors that he needs a real warrant to get in there, or more work to be done to chase up the former tenants…” even though they had sort of established already that they weren’t going to be easy to track down.

“Strawberry milkshake?” Cody offered, since it was getting rather tense.

“Thanks,” Randy accepted the drink and tried to have some, muttering about how it was as thick as cement before setting it down and breaking into his burger instead.

“Vanilla?” Ted grinned slightly and accepted it, leaving Cody with the chocolate. Though the author usually tried to avoid fast food (since his job predominantly involved sitting for long periods of time it could have led to him because an overweight fat-ass in no time even with the fact he had gym equipment at home since it was cheaper than paying for a gym membership that he rarely got the chance to use.

“That statue…” Ted shuddered, wondering if the end of the sword was still embedded in Theresa’s head where the gaping hole had been, even if he couldn’t see it on her soul left as it was on earth.

Randy nudged the other with a socked foot, breaking him from his reverie, “It was creepy, yeah, but at least now they have something to go on…”

And even though it was likely Theresa might have been in the system already as a precaution because she was a foster child (and they had notoriously bad stick attached to them according to books and TV) it would at least mean they would definitely have something on file when… if… they located the little girl’s body.

“Why would you have something like that around kids anyway?”

“Search me,” Randy grumbled.

“Why let people like that have kids?” Ted inputted, indicating the same direction of thought.

“They must have been pretty fucking convincing…” Cody mumbled.

~::~

“What the fuck is that?”

Evan jumped, almost knocking the statue from his desk when the incredulous question came from behind him. A quick fumble meant that he and John managed to save it before any damage occurred, Chris holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender when John levelled a dark look at him.

“Sorry!”

“Anyone told you not to just come waltzing in here like a foghorn?”

“Foghorns don’t walk.”

“Don’t be so pedantic—I’m busy.”

“Wow, what bit you two grouchy bears?” Chris mused, although he sobered quickly when he realised the two were much more sombre and serious than usual, even when they were working. “Is this about the missing kids?”

“Given the amount of DNA on this, and the uh—“Evan indicated with his pencil as he paused in noting something down on his clipboard, “—state of it, I’d hazard a guess to say it’s unlikely one child at least is still missing as opposed to… deceased.”

“What?”

John exhaled a breath, “There’s a girl’s DNA all over the blade, and around the head, spatter, and although she’s not in the system we’ve managed to establish from some… other material left behind that she’s only young. Ten, maybe between that and 12 at the highest ball-park. And since part of the blade looks as though it’s been broken off…” and with most of the blood residue being left on it, even if you weren’t aware that a psychic had spoken to the child who had been killed by it the evidence indicated that anyway.

“You think someone hit her with it?” Chris frowned, “What if it was just an accident?”

“Well, if it was an accident you’d like to think they’d report it wouldn’t you?” Evan asked, and Chris momentarily wanted to reach out and embrace him; he’d seen Evan getting invested in his work before, especially in cases involving children and the elderly, but he’d never seen the man looking so disconnected with what was happening around him. He was talking to them, acknowledging them and providing answers for them but it was still as though he wasn’t all there even so.

“Well, yeah, but not everyone’s a Good Samaritan like us,” Chris grimaced at the Eerie Angel and then circled it, coming to stand behind John, “Where the hell did you find this?”

John looked uncomfortable for a moment (something the veteran cop noticed almost immediately) before sighing, “Let’s just say an anonymous tip developed much further than I had been expecting it to.”

~::~

“Come away from the window dear!” the voice was pleasant enough but the child barely hesitated before taking several smart steps back and cowering, as though he expected he was going to be hit. The dark haired lady (“call me mommy!” she insisted, getting upset whenever any of the children pointed out that they already had a mommy, and she wasn’t her) smiled widely at him and ushered himself back towards the dinner-table where the other children were sat, boys and girls, all dressed up like little dolls, pristine and perfect and not like children at all.

Well, unless you saw pictures from those funny books his gran liked to read that were based in the fifties or some time a really, really long time ago.

“Dinner dear!” she trilled, smile a little too tight, like her skin wasn’t fitting her face. She was clad in an apron, all silly and frilly, and were it not for the way she kept tensing whenever one of the children made a move towards their cutlery or waiting drinks, you would have thought that maybe this was just a nice family having dinner together.

When ‘daddy’ entered the room the temperature seemed to drop, and even ‘mummy’s’ cheerful chattering didn’t make it any better.

Don’t squint.

Don’t squint.

They’ll only get mad at you if you squint…

“Who’re you pulling faces at boy?”

Reaching for his Daffy Duck glasses automatically even though it’d been days since he’d last had them, since he’d been able to see, the boy tried to shrink back into his chair.

“No one sir.”

“You’re still pulling faces!”

“I just can’t see sir.”

“No excuse—“the slap didn’t startle him too much anymore, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. ‘Mummy’ tensed, her face looking like it might crack if she tried any harder to smile. One of the girls closest to him ducked her head, her plaits hiding her face. He could feel from the way she shook next to him that she was crying again. Mummy would probably spank her later; she hated when they cried, they both got mad when you cried.

His cheek throbbed throughout dinner, and even though her cooking wasn’t very nice he did his best and ate everything; three days of being sent to bed without dinner could make anything appealing to you.

I want to go home…

~::~

"I think I'm gonna go for a run."

Ted glanced up at Randy, momentarily puzzled. They'd eaten dinner, then they'd sat around not talking about what had happened. There was a very clear protocol for that kind of non-conversation. Randy had asked one or two questions that were really just clarification of what had happened, then someone (in this case it had been Cody but it might have been any one of them had they been able to come up with the topic quicker) had changed the subject and while they had seized upon it eagerly, hadn't really been able to keep things going. All of them were too lost in the revelations that had come in their little excursion. 

"You're going for a run?"

"I just ate a whole meal from McDonalds. I might be between jobs right now but I do still have a career, sort of, and I don't need to be fat. I'm gonna go burn off some calories real quick, rather than hit up the gym. I'll do that tomorrow but right now..." He shrugged. "I don't really feel like it, but if I don't I'm gonna feel antsy all day. I might be half an hour, not long."

"Okay," replied Ted cautiously. He'd wondered at first if Randy was making some kind of excuse to leave them alone for a while but maybe not, Randy did have to rely on his looks and a few too many greasy meals would mean that some other younger, more disciplined model would come along and steal the work. Randy might be more than happy to live with John and let the other man be the breadwinner, but he wanted to at least contribute, otherwise Randy's masculine pride would be hurt. 

Randy grinned at them and vanished into the bedroom. Cody watched with some mild confusion, then turned his attention back to Ted when Randy was out of sight. "Look, I know that we promised to go out somewhere tonight but - well, all the uh, the chasing, it kinda tires me out..."

"Don't worry about it," said Ted calmly, although inwardly he was disappointed. "We can do it some other night--"

"Uh, actually, I was wondering if you minded doing something a little less public." Cody smiled shyly. "If it comes down to a choice of seeing you or not seeing you, I'd much rather see you and to hell with any residual tiredness. But I was thinking that perhaps we could just grab something a little later and then watch a movie together. And then it wouldn't matter so much if I was tired, or even a little out of sorts. Or even if you were - I don't know if you feel anti-social after a moment like this evening but a lot of the time I don't feel like dealing with strangers."

"I know that feeling," said Ted fervantly. "Although mostly I'm on my own anyway, and sometimes I need to be surrounded by people just to remind myself there are live people out there. Not tonight though. I can get that. Although we'll have Randy around."

"Actually..." Cody looked a little embarrassed. "I was thinking that maybe we could do that at my hotel. They do a really nice room service meal, better than take-out and it'd give us a chance to be just the two of us. And we could order a film on the pay-per-view."

Ted blinked a couple of times, almost panicked. He wasn't completely naive but he had never had that kind of invitation from someone he actually liked before. From strangers in bars, yes. From grateful people who thought they had some debt to repay him, yes. From people who knew him... not so much. Then again, it wasn't as if Cody had said straight out that he was hoping for something to happen between them; he wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not by that. And it would be nice for it to be just the two of them. He understood the need not to have people around sometimes, particularly when he was certain they'd opened a can of worms for the local cops. 

"Sure," he said casually, or at least he hoped he sounded casual. "I'd like that."

"Cool." replied Cody, sounding relieved. "We'll have to eat off our knees though, no matter how nice the food is. They don't give you a table, at least not one that's really suitable for two people to eat off. There's the dresser..." He stopped and Ted realised with some bemusement that Cody was rambling. He was shy about it too. That made him feel surprisingly better, knowing that Cody was at least a little shy too. 

"Randy'll be okay on his own, won't he?" asked Cody, almost as an afterthought. 

"He'll be fine," said Ted with a grin. "Probably glad to see us out of the door so that he can get on with whatever he'd be doing if he wasn't entertaining us."

"What's that?" asked Randy as he emerged from the bedroom dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, absently fiddling with his iPod. 

"Uh, me and Cody are going out tonight," siad Ted quickly, not going into much detail. "We were just wondering if you'd be okay alone."

"I'll be just fine, don't worry about me." Randy beamed at them both, then leaned over to ruffle their hair affectionately, causing protests from them. "Just make sure you play safe!" 

With that he left the room, leaving Cody and Ted to look at one another, rolling their eyes and grinning ruefully. Randy could be embarrassing as hell, but they were both getting used to his comments being directed at them - and that those comments were accurate didn't hurt matters either. 

~:~

John wasn't sure how to progress from here. He could claim that he'd acted on the tip-off and say that he'd just had a gut feeling about it, but no one had gut feelings that accurate. And now Evan was involved, he knew, which meant that Chris would probably find out given the odd behaviour that Evan had displayed in the lab earlier with their evidence. He had to put out some kind of description on their suspects, along with known aliases and the names Theresa had used, but he wasn't at all sure how he was going to justify all of this. He'd probably end up a laughing stock among his colleagues, no matter how much Evan backed him up. The smaller man had been persuaded by the evidence of his own eyes but they could hardly expect to do a demonstration to persuade the rest of the force. The psychics weren't performing animals. 

He sat in his office, trying to think of a way around it. One problem was that he had already thought of someone who might be able to help him out. But that was the last person he wanted to speak to, let alone ask for even a little help. The trouble was that he simply couldn't think of an alternative and he had to do something about these people. The quicker he acted, the better his chances of apprehending them were, while the children were still alive. He hoped. 

With a deep sigh, he flicked on the computer and looked up a few details - he didn't have the ones that he needed and had never thought he'd use them. But the day had come. Checking out the phone number listed on the screen he punched the numbers onto his mobile and closed his eyes. Really what he wanted was to go home to his man, drink roughly twenty beers and slob out on the couch. Not that it was going to happen any time soon. He was half-expecting that he'd still be there in twelve hours, trying to work on any number of leads that might come with the names, or else desperately trying to find some lead that went with the names...

"Johnson."

John paused before speaking, not liking the tone of voice. How did the man even manage to answer the phone arrogantly enough to piss him all the way off? "It's uh, Cena. John, St Louis PD. We met at that conference?"

"Sure, I remember that." Johnson's voice was hearty and perhaps a little too friendly, John was certain that was the same tone he used before surprising the suspects with the tough questions. "Good times. Can I help you with something?"

"Maybe you can but it's a little uh, unconventional. But I heard you might have some experience with a weird situation that's been thrown at me." He took a deep breath. "Ted DiBiase."

Johnson was silent for a long moment. "He's in St Louis?"

"Yeah, and he's uh, given me some information on a case that we're working on down here. He said that he'd worked with you once and I was kinda wondering just how you acted on his tips."

"Hold on." There was a sound in the background, like a door closing, then Johnson's voice came back again. "This goes no further Cena. I don't need everyone knowing that I spoke to a psychic, okay?"

"He doesn't like to be called that."

"Yeah, I know, but what else am I gonna call him? A medium? Doesn't sound right and from what he said, he doesn't go out looking to channel the dead. They call to him."

"What happened with you?"

Johnson sighed. "He turns up at the station, has a tip, won't talk to anyone but the guy in charge of the case. That was me. I was getting ready to throw him out when he told me the deceased told him what happened, but he knew stuff that no one else could have done. That made him look good for the crime, so I threw him in the cells 'til I could find out more. Trouble was, he had an alibi, a damned good one. There was no way he could have been there. And his prints didn't match. Still, he knew that much and I asked him about the rest. His leads were solid but I never did find out where they came from. He insisted they were from the victim."

"Do you believe that?”

Another silence, longer this time. "Don't repeat this. Yes, I believe him. I saw some strange things while he was here and he knew too much. There was something puzzling us so I asked him and he asked her. And she cleared it up. The whole story fit and we got the guy. He wanted to be left out of it and I was more than happy to oblige him - I don't need people thinking I take advice from every phoney psychic that thinks a murder victim talks to them through their fillings or whatever. Do you believe him?"

The question caught John off-guard. "I've seen some weird stuff myself. And he's a childhood friend of my partner’s. Randy doesn't even read his horoscope but he believes Ted without question. Yeah, I think he's on the level. I know he is."

"So why the call, if you think he's legit?"

"The thing is, he and another guy have given us some good, solid leads on a really hot case. I've amassed evidence I wouldn't have without them. And I'm wondering how I'm gonna explain it to the boss."

"Ah. Well, I told my boss about it all and we kept it from the rest of the crew. Said what we found was the result of a tip-off, didn't say where from. He was sceptical but you can't argue with results, much as he would have liked to I'm sure. You said you have some evidence?"

"Yeah."

"Was there anything else that might have led you to it?"

"There was a tip-off about the people who used to live there from a member of the public, but what we found isn't the result of a normal search."

"So bend the truth a little, if you really don't want to go to the boss about this. Say you found something suspicious that led you to the evidence, saw something weird, or maybe your neighbour said something that didn't fit. But the boss didn't get to be the boss by not noticing holes in what you say. Might just be easier to let him in on it."

"Maybe." John wasn't sure. Hunter wasn't the most understanding man in the world and would probably be madder than hell about the outside help, especially when he found out that John had actually called Cody. 

"How is Ted?"

"Huh?" John filtered the question slowly. "Oh. He's fine. Staying on our couch actually, Randy wouldn't have it any other way."

"And that's not a problem for you?"

"Nah. He's quiet, useful, neat. No problem at all. Plus he's been helping with the case a lot."

"Yeah, he was quiet around here too. Just kept telling us what he knew, didn't fabricate a thing, didn't seem too surprised when we insisted he verify his story and we didn't believe him right away. He's a drifter y'know, never seems to stay in one place very long. Independantly wealthy I'm led to believe. Determined though. And..." Johnson hesitated. "He's got that keep away aura about him. Y'know? It's like he wouldn't like anyone asking personal questions, or he'd pass up offers to go for a beer. Not a man who likes company, I'd think."

"I know what you mean," said John, reflecting on how Ted had been when he'd first arrived on the scene. "But I think he might be getting better."

~::~

When Cody’s phone started to ring back at his hotel-room the author didn’t bother glancing at caller ID before answering; he rarely ever got telemarketing calls (which he was forever grateful of) and the only people who had his number were family and friends.

“Hello?”

“CODY GARRETT RHODES!”

Cody winced and cringed away from the phone at the slightly accented British shriek filled his ear-drum; he was sure he had mentioned to Layla before that when she made that kind of noise she was only audible to dogs, but apparently she hadn’t heeded his words even slightly.

“Layla?”

“Where’s the next instalment? You promised me it yesterday!”

Oh… Right. He had thought there was something he’d forgotten when he’d been settled in bed the night before.

“Layla, I’ve been busy,” he enunciated and the British woman paused mid-rant; after all she was one of the people closest to him who knew he had a gift, and as such that that gift could often be utilised in ways that he had no control over.

“Where are you?”

“St Louis.”

“Nice,” she sounded mildly jealous and Cody rolled his eyes with a slight smile; she might act as though she was hard done to, but her husband was always taking her here and there and spoiling her.

“I wish… It’s been pretty trying.”

“Is it about the children?”

“You’ve heard of it?”

“I saw something on the internet news feeds,” he could picture her nodding in that serious way she did whenever they touched on any kind of sensitive topic and she wasn’t trying to get too invested, “Well, I hope you’re being careful whatever you end up doing, and I hope that you’re being treated alright by whoever you’re working with this time.”

“I… Yeah, everyone’s being pretty damned nice so far,” his mind wandered to Ted and he could feel a goofy smile spreading over his face, “Yeah, it’s been pretty good despite how um, y’know, serious the case is.”

Silence descended over her end of the phone and then, “Cody, have you met someone whilst you’ve been there?”

“W-What’re you talking about?”

“Cody! You have haven’t you? Tell me!”

“Sorry Layla, I have to go; I’ll probably have the next instalment to you by tomorrow evening at the latest. Bye!” he put the phone down and ignored her subsequent phone-calls.

~::~

“Jesus Ted, have I taught you nothing?”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Ted asked, looking down at his t-shirt and jeans, jacket nearby to be picked up when he was ready to head off, his boots by the door where they’d been placed since he’d gotten back in. “We’re only going to be sitting in his hotel room anyway!” The pitying look on Randy’s face made Ted want to stick his tongue out like a petulant teenager, but since he genuinely had no idea where Randy was going to go with criticising his choice of dress he decided to keep quiet and just wait.

“Ted, although t-shirts are very easy to remove should the time come shirts increase anticipation. Surely you’d want to keep the moment building and drawn out?”

Ted’s cheeks bloomed as red as the top Randy was wearing, “Why would it be like that?”

Again Randy was looking at him as though he was a bona fide adolescent, “Ted… I’m all but certain that Cody would not mind you jumping his bones.”

“Randy!”

“Oh, alright then, Cody will probably jump your bones instead if he thought that you’d be inclined to accept him.”

“You’re such a pervert!”

“I am not a pervert,” Randy said with great dignity, “I am just a well-rounded and sexually satisfied human being. And as such I obviously would wish you such contentment in life too.”

“Whatever…”

“You’re blushing.”

“Shut up.”

“I can give you some tips if you like,” Randy said, grin growing wider and wider as Ted got redder and redder, making a point of acting as though he wasn’t listening to him, “I mean, if you have had sex at all, it’s probably been so long that things have changed since then.”

Silence.

And then…

“Wait, what bits have changed?”

Randy smirked liked the devil.

“You absolute shit.”

~::~

When the knock sounded on the door Cody almost fell off of the bed, muttering to himself as he hastily righted, checked his appearance and then crossed towards the door. He hoped his jeans and hoody wasn’t too casual (it was one of his nicer pair of jeans) but then he didn’t know if dressing-up would seem a bit much for a casual setting.

Opening the door to reveal Ted in jeans, the trademark cowboy boots he seemed to wear, and a leather jacket, made Cody feel as though he’d won the Mr Southern Gentleman sweepstakes for first prize. Even causal Ted looked a million dollars and despite his prickly outer-shell Ted had a heart that was worth a million dollars to match.

“Come in, come in.”

“Thanks,” Ted smiled and then paused, “Want me to take my boots off?” it was still kind of wet outside.

“Sure,” it wasn’t as though it was his carpet but he didn’t want to incur a sudden room bill added on top of his other fees because the carpet had an array of muddy footprints on it, “Just pop them over there,” next to Cody’s shoes. And Cody had to ignore the feeling that he was turning into a sixteen year old love-struck girl as he considered how right it looked to have their shoes together.

“I didn’t order any food yet,” Cody admitted, moving across to the mini-fridge and pulling out two cans, two glasses and an ice-bucket freshly sent to the room moments before Ted had arrived, “Because I wasn’t sure what you wanted.”

“That’s no problem—“Ted paused as he noticed the laptop still on and open on Cody’s bed, “Did I interrupt you’re writing?”

For a moment Cody didn’t know what Ted was talking about, but then he realised and laughed awkwardly before pouring Ted’s drink and then his own and then carrying them across to the blonde, “Oh, no, no, don’t worry; I was just tinkering a little because Layla called me earlier to remind me that she wants my next instalment,” he rolled his eyes slightly with an exasperated, affectionate look that made Ted feel oddly jealous, “I wouldn’t mind but it’s only a personal project this one, we’ve not actually had a deadline or anything set yet.”

“Can I see?”

When Cody’s face flamed red Ted felt his own stomach squeeze slightly; Cody looked so cute with that blush, and if the response was anything to go by what Ted had heard of the sort of things Cody wrote the book was obviously something that wouldn’t be displayed in the local children’s library.

“Well, um, I don’t know if it’d be your thing.”

“Maybe later?” after all Ted was interested to see Cody’s writing style… but actually buying one of his books to read might seem a bit weird, and Randy would rip the piss out of him without hesitation should he be caught getting one somewhere else.

“Maybe.”

Seating himself on the other side of the bed to Ted, Cody then passed over the menu that he’d been given down in reception when he had asked what kind of things you could request via room-service. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to sausages, or some of the chicken dishes; for a hotel they had quite an interesting choice… Maybe he’d get the curry and some chips on the side? Ted eventually settled on a steak (didn’t entirely surprise Cody since he did seem to like his meat) and he settled on the curry. If it was awful then he’d just eat the chips and know not to order it again… if he was around long enough for he and Ted to schedule another date that was.

Setting the phone down once he’d placed their orders Cody smiled back to Ted and settled down once more, “They said it’ll be about forty minutes or so, is that OK?” not that there was much they could do if there wasn’t.

“Sure.”

“Want to have a look at the choices on TV?”

“Yeah, let’s see what film we can have a laugh at,” Ted smiled, the initial tension that seemed to surround them when their dates began dying down steadily but surely as they settled together, talking and interacting.

As Cody reached for the remote though Ted found his eyes wandering to the jean-clad backside that was suddenly presented to him as he leaned forward. And he entirely blamed Randy for that because although he’d taken a subtle look now and again (maybe just a little one) it had never occurred to him that he wanted to look as blatantly as he was in that moment.

Damn Randy and his perverted ideas!

“Here you go.”

“Huh?” Ted blinked when Cody’s voice suddenly broke through his revelry, eyes flying up to see Cody looking at him. His face started to burn and he hoped in a way that it appeared he was staring off into space because he’d rather make excuses for lapses of non-attention rather than ogling Cody like a (very fine) piece of meat. “Oh, right, yeah, sorry. Thanks,” he started to scroll through the choices.

Rom Com, Chick-Flick of an equal calibre, a Horror, a Comedy, an action…

“Want to try the comedy?”

A pretend pout crossed Cody’s lips, once again drawing inappropriate thoughts to the forefront of Ted’s mind, “Aww, you mean you don’t like chick flicks?”

“I try not to get in touch with my feminine side so often,” he joked.

“You have recently?”

“What do you think Randy and I do alone together? Pillow fights, face-packs and mani-pedi’s all the way,” Ted said, managing to keep dead-pan for all of ten seconds into Cody’s own laughter.

~::~

Cody shook his head, laughter dying in small fits and starts. "I'm never gonna be able to get that image out of my head now, you know that?"

"As long as it never makes it into a book," returned Ted comfortably, leaning back against the headboard. 

"I'm promising nothing," Cody grinned. "Two big butch guys doing one another's toenails in pink bathrobes... might be a change from romance and car chases."

"Is that what you write about?"

"Sometimes. Depends on what I'm trying to say. Might be romance and car chases, might be shambling monsters, mis-matched flatmates, exceptional sex--" He panicked. Talking about sex on a date when you hadn't slept with the guy was incredibly tacky, but he hadn't thought about it before he opened his mouth. He needed something else to show that he hadn't actually intended to speak of it, that he was so comfortable that he could say sex without panicking like he actually was...

"Motorway pile-ups," he blurted out. Hell, where did that come from? Now he just sounded strange. Ted gave him an odd look but fortunately looked quite amused with it and Cody found himself able to relax, until later on when he berated himself for that and any other date-mistakes he made. 

"What are you working on now?" asked Ted curiously.

"Well, I'm doing some payday stuff for Layla - y'know, work just for the money. That's been what I've been working on mostly while I've been here. I've been doing a little of the stuff I really like doing as well when I have the time..." Cody trailed off, suddenly remembering that he'd based a lot of the main lead in his newest novel on Ted himself; not because he'd planned to but because Ted had been on his mind and somehow he'd ended up putting all the things he admired about the man into the character in the book. The description even sounded like him, although Cody wasn't sure that Ted would recognise himself in the words. 

Ted frowned a little. "You don't like talking about your work? 

"It's not that - well, not really." Cody gave a slight smile. "It's just that I'm not really used to it so much, except with Layla and she'd be pretty enthusiastic if I said I was writing a comedy about Hitler travelling in time to appear on American Idol. Sometimes you try to describe what you're writing in words and it comes out sounding cliched or stupid and you start kinda second-guessing how it's gonna turn out." He shrugged a little. "It's a uh, it's kind of a contemporary fiction thing. Though oftentimes I've written supernatural stuff, or for a younger audience or whatever takes my fancy." He chuckled slightly. "I can't seem to settle on a single genre."

"That just makes you more interesting and not stuck in a rut," said Ted.

"Maybe. Or maybe it makes it really hard to keep an audience." Cody smiled back at Ted. "Sometimes I use a pen name to write things, usually the young adult stuff, but mostly I put it under my own."

"And I guess it means you can travel around when you have to and still earn," said Ted, rather wistfully. 

"I don't tend to travel, to be honest," said Cody truthfully. "I just came out here because John called me and I wanted to help. But I don't get attracted to a place like you do. And I don't tend to go looking either, I just wait for people to come ask me. Because I don't like to broadcast it, there's not all that many people who ask for my help but there's enough of them that I don't feel like I'm wasting my ability. Not often anyway."

"If you're helping people then you're not wasting anything," Ted pointed out. 

"That's what I think most of the time, but I think you put me in the shade with how much you do."

Ted might have been defensive about the comment from anyone else but he recognised that it was simply a compliment and not any kind of back-handed insult. "I don't get the choice though. If I did, I probably wouldn't even have done a fraction of what I have. People don't tend to get in touch with me all that often and when they do I have to tell them that it doesn't work like that. No seances to speak with the dead or anything, they have to be still there and not moved on. And not everyone stays around, no matter how they died." He gave Cody a shy smile. "Are we gonna watch the film?"

Cody nodded, slightly embarrassed. He wanted to know all about how Ted's gift worked of course, but he knew that it could be hard to discuss or talk about to someone who didn't have the same experience - that was like the writing too, the work was what it was but it wasn't always a simple thing to vocalise. And they were supposed to be on a date, not talking about what had always made them different. "I heard that it was pretty good," he said. "You know, we're gonna get interrupted half-way through for the food?"

"Would you rather wait? I don't mind."

"Nah, it's gonna be a while, we might as well put it on now and then we can eat half-way through. And that gives us time for another one if we like." Cody mentally cursed himself again, was that coming on too strong, suggesting that Ted stayed longer? But Ted didn't seem to mind, nodding and appearing perfectly happy as Cody put the film on. 

~:~

A little over two hours later, all was right in the world as far as Cody was concerned. Dinner had shown up at exactly the right place in the movie to pause and it had been exceptionally good, better than he would have expected from the clean, respected but not grand hotel. Ted had clearly enjoyed every mouthful as well and Cody was very glad he had decided to order dessert as well, although they let that sit for a while as their meals settled. The movie went back on while they ate and it wasn’t bad at all. Parts were a little suggestive but there was no emphasis on sex that might have made either of them feel uncomfortable given the company and the humour wasn’t too juvenile either. Ted laughed a lot and Cody couldn’t help but notice that when he let himself go and just enjoy himself, he had a great laugh. He wondered how often he could get the blonde to use that laugh and resolved to be the one to get it from him at least once. It might not make his whole life complete but it could only make it better. 

The ending of the film was suitably amusing, heart-warming without being overly hokey and by the time the credits rolled both men were lying on the bed, shoulders against the headboard and eyes on the screen. There had been a lot of laughter and comments and Cody was feeling a lot more at ease than he had done at the start of the date. Which hadn’t stopped him from occasionally checking Ted out as he lay beside him. Occasionally when Ted moved, adjusting his position on the bed, it showed a little more of his body than Cody had seen before and Cody was anxious for any glimpse that he could get. It made him feel a little like a perverted voyeur but that wasn’t enough to stop him. And once or twice he thought he had felt Ted’s eyes on him. 

“You want dessert yet?” he asked Ted lightly. There were two slices of chocolate cheesecake on the dresser, along with a jug of cream. He had taken a bit of a chance ordering it since Ted had not asked for any dessert, but he simply hadn’t been able to resist the thought. And he knew that Ted was unlikely to ask when the bill was going on Cody’s credit card. 

“I shouldn’t...” Ted looked over at the cake. “Well, okay then. I think I can manage the one slice.”

Cody laughed, getting up and getting the plates – and he was sure that as he stood, he could feel Ted’s eyes on him again, most heavily on the spot where his shirt pulled up to reveal a glimpse of the skin above his jeans before it fell again as he moved. He scolded himself internally. Of course Ted was looking at him. He was going to get the food, where else would Ted be looking? 

He handed Ted a slice and offered him the cream, smirking a little as Ted hesitated and then agreed to a little. That done, Cody prepared his own and sat on the bed as well, both of them lounging comfortably and more or less in silence as they ate. It didn’t take long, the cake was good but not overly large. 

“That was really good,” said Ted reverently, putting his empty plate on the bedside table. “Uh, do you wanna watch another movie?”

Cody put his own plate aside, looked at Ted and grinned. The blonde had missed his mouth at some point and there was a thin line of cream at the corner of his mouth. Ted saw his face and immediately looked worried. “What, is there something on my mouth?” He wiped quickly at his lower lip, completely missing the spot. 

Cody fought back an urge to lean forward and lap the cream himself like some kind of overgrown cat – that would probably freak Ted out at this stage of their relationship. Instead he reached forward and caught the cream with the tip of his finger... and then, because he was only human after all, he transferred the cream into his own mouth. Ted looked rather startled at the action but there was definitely something else in his eyes as he watched the finger between Cody’s lips. Cody withdrew the finger slowly, losing all thoughts of choosing another movie. 

“Cody?” 

“Yeah?”

Ted’s eyes flicked down a moment and then back up. “I’m really glad you were there today. It just seemed a whole lot easier with you around.”

Cody smiled, remembering how often they had reached for one another’s hands when things had been especially tense and how he had found a lot of comfort from Ted’s presence. He wouldn’t have known that it made a real difference for someone else who knew what it was like to be in his position to be there – or maybe it was just because it was Ted. 

He leaned forward and kissed Ted softly on the lips, leaning back only slightly when he was done so that they were still very much in one another’s space. “You’re welcome anytime,” he said with a slight smile. 

The tip of Ted’s tongue darted over his lower lip a brief second, as if trying to capture Cody’s taste there, and then he closed the slight distance between them and kissed Cody back. Cody smiled into the kiss and rested a hand on the back of Ted’s head, letting his fingers play with the tips of his short blonde hair. 

Ted made as if to break the kiss after a minute but Cody didn’t let him, instead chasing Ted’s lips and finding no resistance to his actions. A moment later Cody felt Ted’s hand on his side, thumb tentatively stroking beneath the hem of his shirt and Cody decided that he could get very used to this. Regardless of what happened with the case, he fully intended to stay in St Louis as long as Ted did.


	16. Chapter Fifteen: A Little Lash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan spots a tiny, almost insignificant clue which gives John the very information he'd wanted most: the identity of one of his kidnappers and possible killers.

John was exhausted.

And it was so late.

Exhaling a gentle breath John pressed his key into the front door lock and twisted it, glad to hear the lock click out of place to admit him; Randy had had a terrifyingly lax approach to home safety before he and John had gotten together. He had lost count of the number of times he’d gone over to see Randy and found his lover’s front door open (or his backdoor even) and how many times he had subsequently scolded his lover for it. Randy, in his annoyingly exasperating way, had always merely laughed it off… but at least it seemed he had eventually taken John’s nagging to heart.

When John clicked on the living-room lamp (it was probably a sad showing of how many nights he’d come home so late that he could negotiate the living-room without banging into any furniture the way most normal people would) to find Randy lying asleep on the couch he almost fell backwards out of the front door again before catching himself, letting out a harsh breath and lowering his hand from where it had automatically sought his gun in his side-holster.

Why was Randy sleeping here or all places? Surely he’d be more comfortable in bed?

Expression softening John moved and knelt down besides his lover’s prone form, shaking his head somewhat, “How many times have I told you not to wait up for me?” he murmured. Leaning down he pressed a kiss to Randy’s lips, momentarily startled when Randy immediately kissed back instead of stirring and slowly leaning into the action the way he usually did whenever they woke one another like this.

“Dunno,” Randy mumbled hazily, “You tell me a lot of things a lot of times.”

“Jackass.”

“You love me anyway.”

“That I do… Why are you sleeping on the couch anyway?”

“I was waiting up for you,” Randy yawned, “Guess it got later than I thought.”

John immediately looked embarrassed and ducked his head, “Sorry… I did try to call but—“Randy waved a hand at him as the other scrubbed sleep dust from his eyes, “My phone died and I couldn’t find my charger, sorry. I got your text afterwards but figured you’d probably be too busy to need me bothering you with something like that. Did you get anything to eat?”

“Yeah, I grabbed something…”

“Chinese or a Pot-Noodle?”

“… Pot-Noodle.”

“It’s a good job that you’re in such good shape John, because you eat nothing but junk.”

“You like that junk as much as I do you know.”

“I know,” Randy pushed himself upright and then leant forward to capture John’s lips once more, “Busy night?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” John sighed.

“Sleep now, grouch at me about everything in the morning.”

John blinked a couple of times, suddenly feeling more tired than he recalled even on the drive home, “I won’t have time in the morning,” he started, but Randy pressed a finger over his lips to silence him as he shook his head.

“You have time, because you’re not in until lunchtime tomorrow, remember?”

Actually, he hadn’t remembered so that was Randy being helpful as per there.

“You’d forgotten right?”

“When was the last time I got a day off or late start?”

“Not often enough,” Randy said firmly, taking John’s hand in one of his and using the other to turn off the lamp as they passed by it, guiding John back towards their bedroom. He did feel somewhat embarrassed about being caught out waiting up for John since it’d been a while since he had last done so after John kept insisting and insisting that he didn’t need to do so. He’d only stopped waiting on the settee because John had complained he was missing valuable sleep for his sake, though usually when John came home Randy wasn’t always as asleep as he made out he was.

It took little time for John to strip out of his work clothes, only merely throwing them over a nearby desk chair instead of hanging or folding them the way he usually did because he was just so darn tired. When had he become so wiped out? He didn’t even know anymore. One minute he’d feel fine any ready to go and then the next thing he’d be like this: wanting to just curl into bed with Randy and not wake up for the next few days at minimum.

“C’mere Cena, bed’s cold.”

“What am I?” John grinned softly and got into bed on his side, adjusting the covers over the pair of them and relaxing immediately as Randy’s arm wrapped around his middle and the long, strong legs Randy possessed twined with his own, “A hot-water bottle for you?”

“Yup. And sex-doll.”

“Sex-doll?”

“’Cause we have amazing sex aye doll.”

“Just how tired are you?” John mused through a yawn.

“Really tired… so less talking and more sleeping.”

“Sounds… good…”

Randy quirked a sleepy smile as he listened to the sudden increase in John’s breathing that denoted he’d fallen asleep, soon nodding off himself.

~::~

“It’s getting late…” Ted lamented with some reluctance when he and Cody finally stopped kissing one another. It felt as though they had been kissing for hours, and yet at the same time the last kiss wasn’t enough and Ted found himself wanting more and more with each moment their lips parted. He could never recall himself being so greedy about anything before but he found himself scarily aware of the fact that he could easily see himself wanting to be greedy about anything and everything that was to do with the young author before him.

“Yeah…” Cody looked so depressed by the fact that Ted immediately wanted to hug him though he managed to refrain since he didn’t want to make himself seem unnecessarily clingy. Besides, their hands were still entwined as they rested on the bed, surely that counted for something?

“I’ll set off in a minute.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Or I could call a taxi…” granted it wasn’t far but Ted had had enough near brushes with druggies thinking he was an undercover cop or a rival trying to encroach on their territory and numerous muggings to claim that he felt comfortable enough walking around the streets at night. For all the dead could pester the hell out of him until he’d done what they needed him to do they were surprisingly useless when you had a gang of about seven guys around you all determined to give you something of a beat-down; it wasn’t like in all of the films where they could use their otherworldly powers to throw people around a bit and cause a ruckus that would have the baddies wetting themselves before taking off jabbering like lunatics and with their tails set firmly between their legs.

“Or… You could stay here.”

The words seemed to echo between them but Cody refused to call them back; although he wasn’t averse to going further with Ted in terms of physical intimacy, he didn’t meant that that was what they had to do just because Ted was there. A blush stained over Cody’s cheeks but he resolutely kept his gaze locked on Ted’s.

“The bed’s big enough for two… and I’d feel better knowing that you weren’t walking the streets in the middle of the night,” he said honestly. And figured that John and Randy could probably do with a little time without the guest even though neither had complained that they thought Ted was in the way at all.

“I wouldn’t—”

“If it’d make you feel better we can put a pillow down the middle of us… I can keep my hands to myself,” Cody laughed, hoping to ease some of the embarrassing tension that had sprung up a bit.

“Actually… I think we can do without the pillow,” Ted was blushing as much as Cody was, but despite feeling rather shy by the somewhat bold offer he found himself wanting to latch onto it with everything he had. He wanted to spend the night with Cody, even if it was just sharing a bed innocently.

He couldn’t remember ever doing that with someone who wasn’t either of his brothers back when they had been children.

~::~

Some small sound awoke John and he blinked himself awake with a slight moment of disorientation – shouldn’t he be at work? Then he remembered that he was at home and didn’t have to be in until later on. It was this case that was doing his head in and confusing him and as soon as he was able to get it over with, the sooner he would be able to take a few days before being moved onto the next thing. And hopefully that would be nowhere near as stressful.

He rolled over and looked over to the door, for a moment unable to believe what he was seeing. Then he sat up and started to laugh, unable to help it. 

Standing in the doorway, Randy looked hurt or at least tried to fake the expression. “What? I bring you breakfast in bed and you laugh?”

“It’s more what’s actually for breakfast,” snickered John, indicating to the tray Randy carried. He was balancing it lower than would be usual when carrying food and on the tray was a glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, a bowl of cereal and a plate of toast – and Randy’s cheerful erection balanced carefully atop the bread.

“You’re not hungry?”

“Hmm, maybe the food first.” John sat properly, allowing Randy to put the tray (sans cock) on his knees. Giving the toast a slightly dubious look, John picked up the juice and took a healthy swig. “I’m surprised you walked through the living room naked without Ted combusting with embarrassment.”

Randy gave a dirty laugh. “Ted’s not home yet.”

John’s eyebrows shot up. “What, seriously?”

“Seriously. The date must have gone well.” Randy might have sounded suggestive but there was real affection and happiness in his tone as he relayed the news. “I’m gonna leave him in peace before I call up asking for all the gory details. In the meantime, you’d better eat up.”

“What’s this?” John noticed a small box on the tray, almost hidden behind the cereal bowl. He picked it up and regarded it curiously. It was a box meant to house jewellery, that much was given away by the name of the rather high-end shop on the front, but it was far too large to be intended for a ring – and he didn’t think that Randy would propose to him over naked breakfast. 

“Forgot.”

“Randy—“

“Just open it.”

John did so, the slightly puzzled frown on his face making way for delighted surprise when he saw the dog tags within. “Are these mine?”

“You mean the old ones?” Randy looked a little uncomfortable. “Sort of. I mean, there’s the one they could rescue on there and I added the other one, the chain’s new... I hope you don’t mind.”

John checked out the engraving on the tag and smiled widely. “This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Ever. Randy... thank you.”

Randy smiled, shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “It was my pleasure.”

John leaned over to kiss him, forgetting all about the tray on his lap. It appeared that Randy had forgotten it too because he pulled John in closer and a moment later there was a crash as coffee, cereal and toast landed in a messy heap of broken crockery at the side of the bed.

“Sounds like we need a new carpet,” said Randy with a smile that John was too close to see but could certainly feel. 

“Nah. That’s where you dumped your clothes last night, I think it landed on them.”

“My new Affliction top!”

“Fuck the new Affliction top,” returned John with a smirk. 

“Nah.” Randy yanked the sheets off his lover and tossed them aside. “I can think of something else I’d much rather fuck instead.”

~:~

Cody woke up slowly, vaguely aware that it was darker in the hotel room than usual – he tended to leave the curtains open so that the first hint of daylight woke him up. And he was warm, comfortable, as if he’d just had the best nights sleep in as long as he could remember. 

And he wasn’t alone. 

His legs were tangled up with someone else’s. There was an arm over his waist, a head against his chest. His own arm was wrapped around the body in his bed and although usually he would have moved it hours ago due to pins and needles, it seemed as if this time he hadn’t been affected by them. 

He opened his eyes, looked down at the blonde hair atop Ted’s head and grinned. He moved a little and Ted shifted, mumbling something unintelligible before settling down again, slightly further from Cody than he had been. That wasn’t entirely welcome but it did give Cody the chance to examine Ted more closely without fear of Ted noticing. The man had enviable muscles that spoke of a love of working out, although Ted hadn’t seemed to have done much of that since arriving in St Louis Cody thought there was probably   
a lot less for him to do in other places when he didn’t know anyone. He was shirtless, clad in a pair of Cody’s sweat pants and there was just the slightest hint of love handles at his hips, showing that he often ate junk or on the run no matter how often he worked out to rid himself of it. 

Cody allowed his hand to ghost over Ted’s arm, wondering what it would be like to worship that body properly, to pay the attention to it that it so clearly deserved. Some might disagree but as far as Cody was concerned, he was in bed with a god. 

The trouble was of course that he was going to leave. Sooner or later they would find those children (he didn’t allow himself to think of what might happen if they didn’t) and Ted would move on to the next spirit who needed his help. Of course Cody would not shirk on helping out just because it would keep Ted with him longer but he wished he had the lack of morals that would allow that. He didn’t want to leave St Louis and he didn’t want to leave Ted. He certainly didn’t want Ted to leave him but he didn’t see that anything else was a possibility. Ted had spoken of his need to up and leave whenever he was called and Cody understood it to a lesser extent – it was the same ability that allowed him to stand in a room and choose the item that would speak to him the most. Of course, those things never pulled him relentlessly from state to state. 

Suddenly he was infuriated with Ted’s gift. What right did anyone have to ask Ted to live his life entirely for the good of others, with no chance of normality for himself? Ted should be able to settle in one place, hold down a job, meet someone who made him happy. Not be pulled from place to place without the chance to stop. No wonder he seemed ill at ease with people sometimes, rootless, alone. Of course, without Ted’s gift they would never have met and that only infuriated him more. 

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Maybe this wasn’t forever. Maybe one day Ted would wake up and that relentless pull would have left him. 

Or maybe Cody could go with him, or give him a reason to return...

Whoa. He was getting ahead of himself. But then again, with as little time as Ted tended to have, it wasn’t as if they had the time to be reluctant, to court one another in the conventional way. He had to act if he wanted Ted to be his, or else the man would leave and there would be nothing he could do about it. 

Ted felt perfect in his arms, he wasn’t about to dispute that. 

The blonde gave a little sigh and pulled his head back, looking up at Cody sleepily. Cody’s lips twitched into a smile. With his hair mussed and the almost confused look Ted was giving him he looked like a little boy waking up. And then Ted yawned, shifting up the bed so that his body was in view and the illusion was broken. Not that the view was in any way less appealing. 

“Sorry,” mumbled Ted. “I guess I – did I drool on you?”

“No.” Cody leaned in to steal a kiss, hoping that his breath wasn’t horrible or anything. “And don’t apologise. That was the best nights sleep I’ve had in just about forever.”

“Me too.” Ted smiled, running a hand through his hair. “Thanks for letting me stay. It’s about a hundred times more comfortable than Randy’s couch.”

“Well, having you here makes the bed more appealing...” Cody flushed slightly, realising he was probably heading into the realm of suggestiveness. “Uh, I’m just gonna go in the bathroom – you want breakfast? I can order some breakfast.”

Ted scrubbed at his eyes, sitting up. “There’s a kettle right? Just coffee I think. You want?”

“Tea, thanks.” Cody headed into the bathroom, brushing his teeth even before he peed. He had no desire to gross Ted out or anything. When he returned to the bedroom he found that Ted had made drinks and smiled at him. “You’re housetrained. You can stay again.”

Ted smiled back, a little self-consciously and when Cody looked away and then back again, he witnessed the tail end of the blonde removing something from his mouth and putting it into the bin. Gum, of course. It wasn’t as if he was able to brush his teeth since they hadn’t been planning to have the sleepover that night and while Cody tended to hoard toothbrushes at his own house (he would never quite understand why but he had a habit of picking up a new one every time he went to get food) he certainly didn’t bring more than one for what was supposed to be a quick trip. 

Cody settled on the bed with his drink and after a moments hesitation, Ted did the same. Cody sipped at his drink, secretly regarding the blonde from beneath his eyelashes. Ted looked so natural sitting on his bed relaxing, in his clothes – he would love to get used to this. His fears about Ted leaving suddenly seemed very urgent, very pressing. “Ted?”

“Hmm?”

“How long is it until you get... called away?”

Ted frowned, then put his cup on the side. “I don’t know. I once ended up in the same place for over a year, I thought maybe that was the place I was supposed to settle down but then I was gone again. Mostly it’s a few months, sometimes a lot less.”

Cody felt his spirits lift a little. “So you won’t be going in the next few days?”

“I shouldn’t think so, though I can’t make any promises.” Ted tilted his head, his expression an odd mixture of amusement and worry. “Why?”

“I just...” Cody shrugged, putting his own cup aside. He suddenly didn’t feel much like his coffee. “I was kinda dreading you leaving so soon.”

“Hey.” Ted reached out, a little nervously, taking Cody’s hand in his own. “I’m not going anywhere just yet, I shouldn’t think I’ll be leaving for a while yet. Not while things are as they are. You’ll probably be the one leaving first.”

“Why would I leave?” asked Cody, honestly confused.

“You have a house elsewhere, a life. You’re here because you were asked to be and stayed because it’s the right thing to do, but you won’t have to stay once we’ve found those people. And then you’ll be on your way.”

Cody honestly hadn’t considered that part of things. “I don’t have to leave. I can work from here. And I was hoping that maybe, since we’re getting on pretty well, I could stay around as long as you do and you’re happy to see me.” He ducked his head, not sure he wanted to see the expression on Ted’s face. “And then we could keep in touch if you get dragged away.”

Ted was silent for a moment and Cody wondered if he’d overstepped a mark. He knew that Ted wasn’t at all used to having relationships and he might have come on too strong, too fast. He was about to apologise when he heard Ted clearing his throat. 

“If you had to go back home, I’d understand...”

Cody’s heart sank. 

“But if you were here, staying here a while I mean... I’d like to spend that time with you. If you were here, that is. I wouldn’t expect you to stay just because of me but if you did stay... that would be wonderful.”

Cody looked up sharply and grinned when he saw Ted’s face; the man looked hopeful and shy and maybe a touch worried all at the same time. Ted clearly wasn’t used to asking for anything for his own sake and was struggling, even though it was what Cody wanted, to agree to something that seemed to be purely for his own happiness. 

“And if you don’t keep in touch with me when I do have to leave, I’ll be pissed,” added Ted sternly.

Cody laughed, shifting across the bed and throwing his arms around Ted. “The way I feel about you Ted? There’s a very good chance that if you do have to leave, I’ll follow you where ever you go.”

~::~

“Ah!”

Collapsing down against the bed as post-orgasm euphoria washed over them John grinned up at Randy hazily, “You do make the most of my mornings off.”

Pressing a kiss to John’s throat where he’d left an interesting shaped bruise (somewhere it could be obscured by John’s shirt collars because he’d gotten bitched out for that last time) Randy pulled back enough to grin, “Just wait to see what I have planned next time you get a whole day off.”

“You tryin’ to kill me?”

“Nope,” Randy fingered the chain settled around John’s neck, the tags looking perfectly natural settled against the strong expanse of his chest, “I’d be so bored without you.”

“Cheers babe.”

“You’re welcome,” Randy reluctantly eased away from John, feeling oddly invigorated despite their frantically passionate activities, and stretched, “Since breakfast was kind of a bust what say we go and get the kids?” Randy chuckled and said, “I have it on good authority Ted is missing most of his essentials…”

“Aww, daddy concerned about his boy’s safety?”

“You telling me you’re not interested in what happened last night mummy?”

“Don’t even play that card with me,” John chuckled, pushing himself upright and heading towards the bathroom where he clicked the shower on, letting it warm up so the pair of them could have an economic shower and save water.

“So, we’re going right?” Randy asked, mourning the loss of his latest Affliction t-shirt momentarily as he eyed the mess on the floor, “And we probably should look into a new carpet ASAP… Have I mentioned I hate decorating?”

~::~

“Someone’s knocking on the door—“Ted blinked at Cody, “I thought you hadn’t ordered breakfast?”

“I hadn’t,” Cody blinked slightly and then padded across to the door, finishing tucking his t-shirt into his waistband and pulling a jumper on as he went. Ted, since he had no change of clothes, had borrowed Cody’s shower but was changing into the clothing that he’d been wearing the night before. Opening the door with a little uncertainly Cody almost fell backwards in surprise when John and Randy entered the room, closing the door behind them and proffering bags from Krispy Kreme.

“Hello lovebirds!”

“Good morning boys.”

“You look like you had a good night,” Cody found himself saying without thinking; both men had something akin to (what he assumed) would be like a pregnancy glow about them, or maybe that should be post-coital glow about them. And didn’t Cody feel just a teensy bit jealous about that?

“And you didn’t?”

Cody blushed and ducked his head, “I have no complaints.”

Randy glanced across at Ted who was blushing equally but kept his gaze up, softened expression directed towards the dark haired man.

“We brought food.”

“I see…”

“And Ted’s clothes. And toothbrush. Maybe next time we could think to be a bit more before having some sleepover aye Teddy?” Randy winked and handed across a small bag they’d brought along with Ted’s necessities.

“Thanks…” Ted glanced at Cody who nodded, finding himself easily understanding the unspoken request to use the bathroom.

As Ted vanished off John doled out the four takeout coffees they had brought alongside their doughnuts and other morning treats before plonking down onto the surprisingly made bed.

“Why did you make the bed? That’s what the staff are paid for?”

“That’s kinda snobby Randy,” Cody mused lightly, dithering for a moment before then finally deciding he’d have a doughnut. If the food hadn’t been there then he would probably have gone until lunchtime without any… he’d once gone an entire day until eleven in the evening because he’d been busy working on a manuscript. Layla had all but busted his door in bearing sushi once he hadn’t returned any of her calls or messages… it wasn’t something he would ordinarily have chosen to eat but it went down a treat on an empty stomach.

“Not at all,” Randy toasted him with his coffee, “I pay good money and I expect good service.”

The bathroom door opened and Ted emerged, smiling slightly slyly, “Is that what you tell John as well?”

John went a little pink and Randy pretended to look shocked, before then smirking, “Of course I do,” he draped an arm around John, “Except, well, really he pays me.”

“Stop encouraging them.”

Chuckling Ted moved and sat down—directly beside Cody, close enough that their thighs were touching. It was only a small amount of contact but it spoke volumes considering how they had been with each other prior to their admittance of their feelings for one another and their delving into dating one another.

Cody smiled and handed him his coffee, and their fingers brushed.

John and Randy exchanged glances before John shook his head just a fraction; reading body-language was a crucial part of his job, and it was unerringly helpful (though sometimes a little too telling) in social situations.

They had apparently broken a few boundaries together but they hadn’t done the horizontal mambo.

Randy sighed, clearly disappointed.

Ted paused in whatever he had been saying and blinked in confusion, “What’s the matter with you?”

Randy levelled him with the kind of disappointed look a mentor might give their protégé by failing to emulate a task as they had been taught it for a set period of time, “After all the talking we did, and all the planning—”

For a moment Ted looked bewildered, and then bewilderment turned to mortified horror and he immediately tried to shush Randy as John tried to hold in laughter and Cody looked as though he wasn’t sure whether to join in the laughter or to be concerned about it.

“Don’t!”

“And you didn’t even do anything!”

“I’m not like you!”

“Meaning what exactly?”

“More of a build-up.”

“Hey,” John protested lightly, “We have build-up.”

“What are you all talking about?” Cody asked, “Teddy?”

Ted could have shoved a croissant in Randy’s mouth when he started laughing.

~::~

“So… that thing doesn’t look less creepy after a hiatus.”

Evan looked up from his microscope and quirked a small smile at Chris, “Sadly no… Is there something you need me for?” because he was rather in the middle or something and although he could balance his workload without issue he felt more inclined this time to stick with the Murdering Angel (he’d berate himself for such fanciful notions when he wasn’t high on caffeine and chocolate bars from the vending machine two floors down) so that he could get John all of the information he could when the man turned up into work that afternoon. Children were at stake… and after everything he’d witnessed thanks to the psychic couple he really didn’t want to prolong their agony. Not that he would have done even if he hadn’t been there and seen… Yeah, he’d been working too late recently. His thoughts weren’t even making sense to him and that was never a good sign.

“I have something that I just need run through CODIS,” Chris held up a brown envelope, “Someone else in the lab can take that right?”

Evan looked up and around at his colleagues briefly, “Pass it on to Daniel, he can look at it for you.”

Chris pretended to frown and leant in closer, whispering, “I’m not sure I trust Goat Face with my evidence.”

Lips twitching, Evan strived to maintain a serious face, “Don’t call him names.”

“Kane does.”

“Where did he get that nickname from?”

Chris looked both amused and slightly surprised, “You want me to go down and ask the Coroners such personal questions?”

A slight shiver ran down Evan’s spine, “What are the odds two brothers would want to become medical examiners, coroners, and work together?” he thought it was bad enough dealing with evidence either secondary, or even first-hand when he was in the field like the retrieval of the angel, but dealing with actual dead bodies, cutting them open and seeing what was inside (whether it should be or not)? That was a whole n’other ballgame that he wasn’t quite prepared to consider.

“Gajillion to one?”

“Gajillion isn’t a word,” for what felt like the first time since he’d first begun cataloguing and examining the angel he found himself chuckling and his smile became a little bit more real. “But, yes, I can see where you’re coming from; the odds would be very small…”

“What?” the blonde man moved around to Evan, his own evidence forgotten as he took in the expression on the younger’s face, “What is it Evan?”

“There’s… there’s brain-matter on this,” Evan mumbled, “And I’ve identified that the blood came from a child.”

Chris grimaced, “You think this was a murder weapon used on one of the missing kids?”

Evan bit his lip; he wasn’t quite sure of the protocol of discussing cases with other members of the same department dealing with said case, especially when he was… ahem, getting closer, to said member of law enforcement of the department, but he suddenly found that he wanted to talk to Chris about it. He wanted to talk to him about the freaky way Cody had gone all hazy, mumbling to himself as he’d located those terrifying words that were now lying upon Evan’s desk in carefully rendered photographs, and to tell him about the fact that Ted had actually spoken to the child who’s blood and brain currently marred the weapon he had before him.

“It’s a weapon that was used on a child… but not one that’s been reported missing,” Evan mumbled, writing something down on his clipboard distractedly.

A frown marred Chris’ face but Evan thought he still looked attractive even despite the slightly sour expression, “What do you mean?”

“I… Can we maybe talk about this later?”

“Sure,” Chris mercifully took the hint and then glanced at his watch, “I finish later tonight… what say we go and grab a burger?” he laughed slightly, without much humour in the sound, “It wasn’t quite what I had in mind for our next date but maybe we can consider it a pre-date?”

Blushing, Evan looked away momentarily; dating? Well, at least he felt somewhat more reassured regarding his burgeoning position with Chris now.

“I think I’d really like that,” Evan admitted even though he was very aware in the back of his mind that he was likely to become something akin to a miniature whale if he didn’t stop eating as much junkfood as he had been doing as of yet. Downside of the job, he knew, but that didn’t mean he should get complacent over it.

“I’ll be by to get you later,” Chris smiled kindly, understandingly, and then headed across to Evan’s fellow lab technician to hand over the envelope that he’d brought in with him. Evan would need to ask him about his case too, he noted absently to himself as he jotted down the sex, blood-type and approximate age that he’d estimate the source of the blood to be, after all, Chris may need someone to talk to as much as he did.

Wait… What was that?

Pushing his glasses further up his nose Evan grabbed his nearby magnifying lens and adjusted the extending arm it was attached to so that he could get a better look at the mystery item that had caught his eye, atop the babe’s head as it remained in the angel’s arms.

An eyelash?

It wasn’t a lot, really, but perhaps they could begin to get something of a DNA profile from it? The woman’s hairs had tested back as an adult female’s, and a young girls, blonder, and the blood was likely to match the blonde’s hair for DNA but… Evan had a feeling that this DNA profile was going to lend towards the woman’s accomplice, her husband, or whatever he was. Partner in crime certainly.

~::~

John had to admit the morning he spent with Randy, Cody and Ted was... interesting to say the least. He was pretty sure that the pair hadn’t had sex but he didn’t see that as a problem the way that Randy did – he had witnessed the shell that both men had built around themselves and thought they were doing pretty well to even trust one another to the extent that they did. Randy however did see it as an issue and hadn’t stopped telling Ted off whenever Cody wasn’t looking, until John had taken him aside and told him that he wasn’t helping. He personally wasn’t at all surprised when Cody mentioned he was staying indefinitely and while they had nothing to go on, it wasn’t as if Ted had any reason to go running off either. They were getting breaks in the case but not enough and not at the speed he would have liked.

It was when he got to work that he realised there might be more of a break than he had previously realised, starting from when Evan burst into his office and started babbling about DNA and pulling in favours. John gave him a slight amused look and raised a hand. “Start again Ev. I didn’t catch a word of that.”

“I found hair and an eyelash on the angel,” said Evan more slowly with barely restrained impatience. “I pulled in a favour to get it run through the system quickly and we have hits on it.”

John’s eyes widened slowly. “You have someone on file that matches? Who?”

Evan produced a sheath of papers, kicking the door closed behind him as he went to John’s desk. “Well, the blood belongs to a kid, we know that much. And I think I got something on the child. A parent.”

“You’re kidding?” John reached for the papers, Evan holding them out of his reach. “Theresa?”

Evan made a negative noise. “Wrong name. But... well. We haven’t got the girls DNA on file. Her mother we do. She was profiled in an assault case, found guilty on the DNA evidence. Done again when her DNA was found at another crime scene, burglary this time.”

“Her DNA? Not prints?”

“No prints on an assault victim, skin under the nails and saliva on her. And she wore gloves for the burglary but uh, let’s say she was a messy cow when it came to respecting others property.” Evan shrugged. “We do a lot more on DNA than prints these days, people know to wear gloves and take precautions but they can’t always stop dropping skin flakes or whatever. It depends really on whether they check for DNA. Anyway, I got a fifty per cent match on the blood and that means that she donated fifty per cent of her DNA to the kid whose blood’s on that angel.”

John shivered a little. “Who’re we looking at?”

“Morgan Tennant.” Evan raised a single shoulder in a slight shrug when John looked blank. “Yeah, means nothing to me either, but I did some checking. She’s not even from Missouri. She’s lived in Iowa her whole life... but she does have some children. And one of them is missing.”

John narrowed his eyes. “Keep going.”

“She had four when the social services decided to get concerned about her habits – she’s got quite an active meth addiction but she’s not above anything else and there was a lot of concern. They went around once, found the four kids there all accounted for. It wasn’t a good scene but they didn’t find any immediate danger and so she was put on a warning. She seemed to clean up her act and the social put the kids on some register that means they’re keeping an eye but it’s not urgent. A few months after that she hit a new low, got herself arrested for disturbing the peace and was so much of a mess that they decided to take the children. Only one was missing.”

“And they never found her?”

“Nope.”

“They never prosecuted?”

“Apparently not. They couldn’t find where she’d gone and the mother said the father had taken her. She gave a name but he never showed up anywhere either. There was no sign that she’d come to harm and the other children insisted that she’d been taken by her father and his new wife. No harm, no body. Just a missing child.”

John nodded, mulling it over. When it came to missing persons, it was impossibly difficult sometimes to pin any crime on a person, no matter how screwed up they were. The trouble with a missing person was that there often were no leads at all, they had just vanished into thin air and with no witnesses and no evidence to say they had come to harm, in this case a massive time frame when the kid might have gone missing , there was simply no proof that the mother was lying. 

“There was one thing that’s mentioned in the report that made the cops think she was probably telling the truth. The children all had different fathers anyway and no one had seen this one in a while. But a couple of people mentioned seeing him in a bar nearby a couple of weeks before they took the children, or someone who looked like him. And he wasn’t local, he drifted in and then out of state again. And there was evidence that the Morgan woman had plenty of money for a while beforehand that had just run out. She’d been on some kind of bender and allowed some new boyfriend along for the ride.”

“They think he gave her cash and she gave up the kid?”

Evan nodded. “That’s not what you’re thinking though, is it?”

“I’m thinking it might not have been the father.” John sighed. “In my experience, men who take up with women with existing drug problems usually have one of their own and the children aren’t a priority unless they’re pleading to stay out of jail for their sake. And they’re not known for handing over their money easily either. I’m wondering if there was some kind of adoption offer.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Kid’s name?”

“Brandy.” Evan pressed his lips together a moment. “There’s no way your psychic could have made the name connection, not in a million years. Unless he knew something before he went there—“

“And we know he didn’t,” interrupted John. 

“We don’t know...” Evan shook his head and sighed. “Okay, it’s a hell of a long shot that he might have known something beforehand but isn’t getting the information from the victim an even longer shot?”

“I don’t know,” said John neutrally. “You saw Ted before you found the angel. What do you think?”

“I...” Evan stared at the papers and moment and frowned rather angrily. “I saw him and I know what I saw. And I don’t think he was faking it. But I’m having a real hard time accepting all this John, no matter what I saw. It flies in the face of all I’ve ever believed and so you’ll just have to forgive me if I get a little sarcastic about it, or look for the more likely answer.”

“You’re the scientist,” replied John, secretly relieved – it could have been a much worse answer had Evan decided to eliminate what he thought was impossible and that meant the chance of psychic powers. “You wouldn’t be a good one if you didn’t look at all the possibilities. Or believe what the evidence shows.”

“Right.” Evan looked slightly less antagonistic. “But we don’t know that it’s actually the child’s DNA, we just know that it’s one of Morgan Tennant’s children. Could be any of them in theory, except that the other three that were taken then are alive and well in foster homes, and the one that she had since is living with a relative of the father’s and there’s no indication of a problem. We know where the smart money is. And in any case – that’s not the only DNA we found on the angel.”

John’s jaw dropped. “You’re serious? We have something?”

Evan smiled, a genuine grin of real happiness at having something positive to report. “Yup. And this time I’ve got a total match rather than just a probable. Check this out.”

He removed some papers from the ones he was carrying and tossed them gently across the desk at John. “This guy. Paternity tested by a court and again with the assault, so we had his DNA on file, or rather Kentucky did – he’s not from there either but that’s where he ended up in trouble. Once he was cleared on paternity he bugged out and no police activity since.”

John stared at the mugshot with his eyebrows raised. “Morrison, John. Are you kidding me? That’s not his real name.”

“It is since he was legally old enough to change it.”

“No doubt taking advantage of the resemblance to the Lizard King.” John had never been fond of The Doors but Randy was a passing fan and he knew what Jim Morrison looked like. This guy looked eerily like him, or rather he looked eerily like the cleaned-up publicity shots and studio portraits the singer had posed for. Shoulder-length curly hair grazed a square jaw and the rather insolent smirk was probably attractive to some, although they did nothing for John and not just because he suspected the man was some kind of kidnapper and potential killer to boot. 

“So, I’ve got a name.” John smiled rather grimly. “Ev, you’re a star. Next time you take Chris out, the bill’s on me.”

“Even if we go to the fancy French place again?”

“Hmmm... maybe I’ll just get you McDonald’s coupons instead.”

Evan stuck out his tongue. “Just let me know how this goes, okay? I’m invested here too.”

“I will, don’t you worry about that.” John accepted the rest of the papers from Evan. “You researched the girl yourself?”

“Yeah. I was waiting for the results from the eyelash to come back to me and – well, it was for myself. I wanted to know what the hell happened back at that house. Only I still have more questions than answers.” Evan smiled wanly. “I’m finished for the day. I’ll see you later, but call me if there’s anything new comes up, okay?”

“Okay.” John smiled slightly. “Isn’t Chris’s shift over now as well?”

“I don’t know,” Evan lied and when John chuckled, he shot the man the finger and left. 

John stared at the mugshot for long moments and then turned to his computer, going to his first port of call – he wanted this guy yes, but there was a woman involved as well and judging by what they knew it would have to be someone who was close to him. And he had a hunch, given what Ted and Cody had told him about the woman and her relationship with the man on the scene...

He made several hits on the Morrison name, but the database he used had scanned through identification and he checked them all until he made the hit that he wanted. The same face, slightly older, looked back at him from the screen and he smirked, clicking on the information he needed. 

The computer told him that some two years ago, John Morrison had been one half of a Vegas wedding. Chasing the links, John found the other half of the happy couple and found his heart beating faster when he found himself looking back at the ID of the woman whose photofit they had been showing on the TV for the last few nights. The photofit hadn’t been exact but close enough to eliminate any doubt. 

John and Melina Morrison, he thought grimly to himself. I’ll find you yet. You two are mine.


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Final Confirmation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan reveals to Chris the secret of John's recent finds for his case, and John takes Ted to ask Theresa if he's found the right people who harmed her. Ted and Cody spend the night together.

Chris had been finding excuses for months to speak to Evan and he didn’t need that many excuses to watch the younger man when he didn’t realise it – he wouldn’t have dared had Evan been a cop but the tech lost himself in his own world so often that Chris sometimes thought he could take pictures and he still wouldn’t notice. So he was very aware that something had been bothering Evan a lot since they had found that angel statue that seemed somehow linked to Cena’s missing kids case. A part of it was no doubt because of the case itself, who knew what was going on with those children? But it didn’t seem as if it could all be that and so when Evan met him once their shifts were finished and he took the other man for a swift bite to eat, he decided on a smaller cafe rather than the fast food joint Evan had been expecting, one that was quiet since it was an odd time of day to be eating and one that was slightly more private than shovelling food between a family with sixteen poorly nourished children and a group of obnoxious teens alternating between receiving annoying texts and shrieking at one another. 

Evan seemed a little surprised at the choice, but Chris merely grinned at him. “Burgers are good here,” he said casually. “So’re the dogs. And they have milkshakes. Don’t say I don’t know how to treat you good.”

“I never would,” returned Evan with a chuckle, sliding into the booth. Chris handed him a menu, waited for the order and then went to the counter to order, returning with their drinks. He handed Evan the milkshake and smiled as the younger man took an enthusiastic slurp. 

“Good thing you got a straw, otherwise you’d have a strawberry moustache there,” he commented. 

Evan looked slightly guilty. “It’s good,” he said, surreptitiously dabbing at his lips. “You were right.”

Chris nodded, stirring his own drink with the straw without taking a sip. “What’s bugging you?”

“Huh?”

Chris shrugged. “There’s been something on your mind the last couple of days, and I think it’s about John’s case – you seem to have all but dropped everything else to work on it, you’ve been leaving Bryan to do everything else. You wanna share?”

Evan looked over at Chris, chewing his lip. “I’m not so sure that I should.”

“Look.” Chris reached across the table and took Evan’s hand, taking no notice of anyone who might be watching them. “I’m not about to spill my guts to anyone, I’ve been on the force for too long. And I’m not going to repeat anything that might get you into trouble. I know that John’s not in my department but I do tend to hear things around sometimes and maybe it’s something that I can, I dunno, ease your mind about.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Evan chuckled without much humour. “This isn’t so much about the case. It’s more a uh, a readjustment of how I see life.”

Chris looked baffled.

“Chris...” Evan lowered his voice and looked around, as if he expected someone to overhear them, but he didn’t take his hand from Chris’s. “Do you believe in life after death?”

“Well, yeah, sure.”

Evan looked taken aback. “You do?”

“Sure I do. God, Heaven, Hell, I believe in all that stuff, although I’m not much of a church-goer. Why, don’t you?”

Evan hesitated, rather startled. He would never have thought that someone so apparently hard-headed as Chris would actually accept there was an afterlife of any kind, but he supposed you never could tell with people. “I never did in my life before. There’s no evidence that there’s anything after death, nothing tangible at least. There’s lots of people who say they ‘just know’ and that’s not evidence, there’s people who say there’s enough near-death experiences to prove the spirit goes on and all that proves is the continuation of brain activity for a short period after death. Staving off a final acceptance of totally ending, that’s the common theory among academics and I’m inclined to believe that. I always have been at least.”

Chris frowned. “Something changed your mind.”

“I don’t know.” Evan met Chris’s eyes. “Promise me, this can go no further. Just you and I can know, okay?”

“Okay. I promise.”

“John had in a tip that sounded suspiciously like the mugshot he got from that kid and the circumstances were about right. He asked me to go along to try and entice someone from the house for him to get a good look at, mostly because I don’t look like a cop and he didn’t want to arouse suspicion. There was no one living there anymore though and he managed to get a key from the letting agency to have a look around. I went along to see if I could chase up any forensics, off the record.”

Chris nodded. He knew that it wasn’t strictly allowed but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t bent the rules himself in the past. 

“But we weren’t the only ones. John’s boyfriend Randy came along, that was weird enough, but he was playing chauffeur to these two other guys who turned out to be psychics.”

“Are you serious?”

Evan laughed a little. “That was my reaction and I was pretty set in it right away, pretty much told them that I wasn’t fooled by that kinda thing. The weird thing was though that one of them’s relatively famous and not as a psychic, I recognised the name. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. These guys went into the house and I went upstairs. I got down and one of them’s trying not to lose his lunch, says there’s blood or brains or something in a bucket. Didn’t find much but there was a mop which had traces on. And then they went upstairs and found something I missed. Pretty easy to miss it admittedly, but still. I wasn’t happy and it made no sense that they’d see it without doing a proper search. But they went right to it. And then... damn, I don’t believe I’m saying this. I sound like a raving lunatic.”

“No, you don’t. You’re just saying what you saw.” Chris tried to look encouraging. “Go on.”

“One of them was talking to himself, except he said he was talking to a dead girl in the house. Again, no sense because we’ve no evidence any of those children are dead and they said most of them were alive as well. He was snappish about it when I didn’t believe a word and I know all about the power of suggestion, but it was kinda eerie. It really was like someone else was there. And that’s how these phonies lure you in of course. And then he announced that the murder weapon was buried outside, even though there was no trace. And he was listening to this kid that no one else saw or heard and where she was saying it was. But the other one looked kinda funny again, said that it wasn’t quite right and he – he ran his hands over the ground around where the first one was looking and found it, like some kinda human metal detector. And there was the angel, covered in blood and brains and DNA. Just waiting for us to come along and dig it up.”

Chris narrowed his eyes. “Might they be involved?”

“That’s what I assumed. But there’s no evidence of that, I checked myself even though John doesn’t know that part. I don’t think the two ever even met before a couple of weeks ago. And maybe you had to be there, but they didn’t look like they were putting on a show. It seemed genuine, it was so real. They lifted that damned statue from the ground and it completely shook up the way I see the entire world.”

Chris rubbed his thumb over Evan’s knuckles. “What do you think? Now you’ve had the time to think it through.”

“I trust what I can see and what can be proven,” said Evan, running his free hand through his hair. “I know that they probably couldn’t have been involved in the crime and I know that there was no sign there was anything buried, even if they had been in the garden prior to digging that angel up. I thought that something would show they were full of it when I ran tests but everything I found only backed up what they were saying, right down to what made no sense when they said it. Stuff that I found out only later on linked back to what they were talking about at the house and before. I think I’m getting the proof I always demand before I believe something’s the truth.” He smiled at Chris, trying to lighten an atmosphere which he hadn’t intended to become so heavy, he had just needed to share his thoughts with someone. “And I’m freaking out trying to decide what to make of it and how it fits in with everything else I used to believe.”

~::~

“I need Ted.”

“I’m not sure I like that.”

“No, Randy, seriously,” John started.

Randy arched a brow as he heard the excitement in his lover’s voice, “What’s happened?”

“Something pretty amazing… but I really need Ted’s help to see if it’s as right as it seems.”

Of course it wasn’t as though he was doubting Evan because he was one of the best technician’s they had ever seen… but Ted could afford John a real witness account that was undeniable, even if he wasn’t quite able to use it in court.

“Hang on, he’s here—“John could hear vague mumblings down the other end of the line, and then Ted had obviously accepted Randy’s mobile from him.

“John? Hi.”

“Ted… Do you think you could come back to the house with me?” John didn’t feel he needed to specify which house he was talking about.

The line went so quiet that for a moment he was sure Ted had hung up on him.

“Ted? You still there?”

“Yeah,” came the quiet reply, “I’m still here.”

“So, will you come?”

“… Why?”

John frowned softly and then paused; Ted had seemed kind of freaked out last time, freaked out to the same degree Cody had been when he’d touched the earrings that night.

“Please,” he said earnestly, “I… I think I have the ID’s of the people who’ve been hurting and abducting the children, I was just wondering—“he lowered his voice even though no one could hear inside of his office when he was speaking at normal level, “If you could maybe talk to Theresa about whether they’re the people who were… who she was with.”

Saying ‘responsible’ or ‘caring for her’ just didn’t seem appropriate in the circumstances.

More silence, and then,

“Alright, I can try.”

After all she might not cooperate.

“Thanks. When can you meet me there?”

“I can be there in about half an hour.”

“Alright. I’ll see you there, and thanks again Ted.”

~::~

“Can I see them?” Ted asked.

John hesitated, and then supposed he’d need to show Ted because Ted was the one who was going to be talking to the girl who would ID whether they were indeed the right people or not. The fact that DNA had already gotten them right meant John knew who he was on the lookout for, and he could always ask the next door neighbours again, but… in a strange way he felt that he owed it to the girl to ask her, and he recalled absently that although Dazzle was apparently more friendly with Ted that she didn’t really remember what the woman looked like.

“Here.”

He handed over Morrison’s picture first and then Melina’s.

If he’d been hoping they might have triggered something in Ted he was disappointed, although he did muse, “Interesting name choice,” so obviously he’d make the same connection that John himself had when he’d speculated over them earlier with Evan.

“Tell me about it,” John said as he accepted the pictures back.

“Do you have a key again?”

John looked sheepish, “Not quite…”

“So how do you expect me to…?”

“Well,” John started, “I thought that maybe she’d come out if she sensed we were here.”

Ted could have easily rolled his eyes but he managed to refrain from doing so because he knew that John wasn’t trying to mock him or make fun of him in any way.

“We can try.”

“Really?” John’s dimples appeared, “Good.”

Ted led the way into the garden, standing by the back door.

John hovered behind him and Ted managed to keep from snapping that the man really didn’t help when he projected such a tension and expectant aura the way that he did. Other people might not know that the ghosts were there until he talked to them, and told them, but they were still affected by those that they couldn’t see and interact with.

John got any more tightly strung then he was likely to send Theresa hiding in the house somewhere.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“It’s really no fun when you don’t jump.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK. What’re you doing here?”

“I have another question to ask you,” he paused and then indicated John to the girl who was currently sitting on the back doorstep, “Or rather he does, I’m just interpreting.”

“I speak English,” the child frowned, demonstrating how young she was.

“Yes, but he can’t talk directly to you can he? I mean, he can, but he couldn’t hear you if you talked back.”

It really was weird to watch Ted converse with thin air even though he had seen it several times by that point.

“What’s the question?” the girl asked although her bored tone said that she expected it to be something they had already asked her. And Ted wouldn’t have minded per se except… just how many people did she get to talk to now?

“John?”

John stepped forward, an awkward look on his face, “Uh…?”

“Doorstep.”

“Right… Of course,” John held up the photos one at a time, surprisingly accurately level with the ghost-girl’s eyes, “Were these the people who hurt you?” John asked, though it was clear he still felt awkward talking to (what was to him) thin air.

Theresa didn’t move for several long seconds.

It was like watching a DVD that had been quite animated, playing normally, and then it had just suddenly stopped, paused, without explanation.

“Yes.”

Ted almost didn’t hear her.

“What?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Not you, John.”

“Did she answer you?”

“She is right here, Dimples?”

“Dimples?”

“Why are you giving me a nickname?”

“I didn’t—”

“Because you know Cody’s gonna be pretty jealous of that.”

Ted’s cheeks bloomed red and he shot John a look before looking back to Theresa, “Are they your parents?”

“They were ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’,” Theresa said flatly, “They weren’t my mum or dad.”

Turning back to John the blonde then nodded, “She ID them as the ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’.”

“Really?” excitement and determination burned in John’s eyes and Ted momentarily felt bad for Randy; he had hardly been seeing John as it was with the case and all, but now that John had gotten so many leads he was probably going to see even less of the man for the foreseeable future.

“So, Cody? That was the cute one who’s hand you were holding last time right?”

Ted made a sound of embarrassment in the back of his throat, “What is it with young girls thinking he’s cute?”

“Are you jealous? It’s not like I could steal him from you anymore—“and wasn’t the idea of a pre-pubescent child thinking they could steal your boyfriend from you cute and bizarre and a touch weird in one? “Besides, you could tell he really digs you.”

“Digs me?”

Was this girl secretly older than she looked, or were ‘the parents’ trying that hard to be ‘hip’ they were actually behind the times?

Theresa made a sound of impatience, floating off of the step, “You know! He likes you, a whole lot, so don’t mess it up!” she actually wagged her finger at him, making Ted feel like he was back in school and being chastised by teacher because he had forgotten to do his spelling homework the night before.

“I won’t mess it up,” he found himself saying, watching as Theresa paused as she merged halfway through the wall.

“I probably won’t see you again for real this time,” and once more she sounded frighteningly matter of fact and not the slightest bit concerned, “Unless you’re there if they ever manage to find my body wherever those two put it.”

And then she was gone.

~::~

“Is something wrong?” Cody asked Ted, the other had been surprisingly quiet since inviting him out for a drink.

“Wrong? Why would you say that?”

Cody’s expression softened as he reached out, a hand resting over Ted’s own, “You’ve seemed a little… lost since you called me.”

Ted looked down at the hand covering his own and then sighed before curling his fingers through Cody’s in a definite gesture that had the dark haired man’s heart in his throat like he was sixteen years old and in the throes of first love all over again…

Not that he really remembered the name of said first love; some attractive football player older than him in school who’d seemed like God at the time, but had never even known Cody existed.

“I guess that’s a good way of looking at it.”

“Want to talk about what happened?”

Ted considered it a moment and knew that he probably owed it to Cody to tell him that John had ID’d the suspects but at the same time he really didn’t want to open the can of worms any wider that evening.

“Maybe later?”

Instead of looking annoyed, or offended, the way Mike had come to look when they had been younger and Ted hadn’t wanted to talk about things (unsurprising really if you looked at Mike’s behaviour towards his gift) Cody merely gave a soft smile that seemed to say he understood full well what was bothering the other and he sympathised.

“OK, later on then.”

Squeezing Cody’s hand gently Ted then leant back and flagged a waitress down before addressing Cody, “I don’t know about you but I could sure go for something sweet right now.”

It was on the tip of Cody’s tongue to tell Ted he could give him plenty of sweet things… but it sounded terribly cheesy even in his own head so he bit back.

“Ice-cream?”

“Fancy sharing a sundae?”

“I had a feeling there was something different about you,” Cody teased the blushing blonde as the waitress took their order and then headed off again, “You’re a gentleman straight out of a fifties television programme. It’s OK though; your secret’s safe with me,” he winked playfully.

~::~

“You didn’t need to walk me home,” Evan said lightly as he paused outside of the building his apartment was situated in, the small three-storey place looking little and non-descript, not like the wannabe skyscrapers that seemed to be springing up all over the city wherever the planners could manage to put one in.

“Of course I did,” Chris said pointedly, wondering whether walking Evan up to his door would seem stupid since the younger man had already stopped to speak to him.

Especially when he wasn’t exactly expecting to get invited inside.

“I…” Evan was blushing, Chris could tell in his general body-language since the street-light was too faint and generally distorted to allow Chris to see such a thing by his face alone. He had one hand resting on the elbow of his arm hanging at his side, and seemed about three seconds away from scuffing his foot on the ground. He was so innocent, sweet and inquisitive, and yet sexy and unbending firm in his convictions, a paradox and fascinating multi-layered puzzle that Chris was prepared to work hard to experience in its entirety. “I really appreciate tonight Chris,” Evan said, “I mean it…” he hadn’t realised just how much that had all been playing on his mind until he had sat down and started to talk about it.

“Hey,” Chris’ expression softened, a worn and yet gentle hand resting on Evan’s cheek, “If you ever need someone to talk to about things, be they good things, bad, impossible, benign, then come to me. See me in person, call me, hell, I’ve even gotten pretty good at the whole text and email thing,” he winked and Evan chuckled lightly, “Just get in touch, OK?” he wanted Evan to know he could open himself up to Chris, and he could trust Chris to take care of the parts of himself he exposed.

… and didn’t that suddenly sound more dirty than meaningful?

“I will,” Evan nodded, and found that he really meant it. His usual tendency might have been to bottle things up but after that evening he was pretty well assured that he had found a good man in Chris Jericho. “And, you know that counts same for you right? I mean, if you ever need someone to talk to,” he amended, in case it hadn’t come out as clear as he thought.

Smiling softly Chris nodded, “I know.”

Despite somewhat anticipating the kiss that came his way Evan was still surprised by the gentle contact that seemed to contain so much internal promise. When they parted Evan found every fibre of his being seemed to scream out that he couldn’t just let Chris leave like that, even if they didn’t do anything in the bed together but sleep.

“Do you… want to come in for coffee?”

“I shouldn’t drink caffeine so late… Don’t suppose you have any hot chocolate do you?” the smile Evan returned to him made Chris relieved he’d made the small joke concerning his age and late night caffeine intakes.

“Hot chocolate I can do.”

~::~

Ted hadn’t called Cody with the intent of going back to his hotel room... not really anyway. And that he’d left his toothbrush there was mere oversight and nothing else. But it was nice to have someone around who really understood what he was going through after days like this. Cody knowing just what was occurring in his mind, how he felt, made him realise that there had been something missing for him since the first time he had dealt with the aftermath of seeing and speaking with the dead. He had felt alone and that there was no one able to get through the self-imposed isolation had made him feel lonely as well, but he had lived with the feeling for so long that he had only just recognised it for what it was. It was that feeling that made him seek out public places without wanting to speak to people, or sit in his room getting depressed with nothing but a few beers for company, wondering why life in general and his life in particular was so crappy. 

But Cody got it. He got that Ted didn’t want to talk about it right away, that he was pensive and wanted to take his mind off everything. And when they’d had enough of being out it was only natural, or so it seemed to Ted, that they went back to Cody’s room so that they could discuss things with a little privacy. 

“Theresa confirmed the pictures were of the people who had her,” he said to Cody as they both sat on the bed, Cody paying full attention to him. “Now all John has to do is catch them and they’ll have the kids to send back to their parents. And they’ll spend their lives inside after what happened to her, and Dazzle.”

“That’s some good news,” agreed Cody wholeheartedly, although he wasn’t too keen on the idea of Ted being pulled away again now that he had apparently done all that he could to help. 

“Yeah.” Ted looked a little sad still. “But it’s such a waste of life. And the kids alive’ll never be the same again.”

“No, but they’re a lot less likely to meet up with the same kind of accident.” Cody reached out and took Ted’s hand. “It’s not perfect but that makes up for a lot, that’s what I think. You might not be able to stop it the first time but you can stop it from happening again.”

Ted nodded with a slight smile. “That’s always been how I console myself. And that things that happened aren’t just forgotten about.”

Cody smiled back at him. “Does this mean that John’s working overtime all over again?”

“I don’t think he ever stops,” said Ted ruefully. “Randy’s between jobs and it must be driving him mad to have to stay in all day. I don’t know that I’d be able to do it. Then again, he gets to spend hours in a gym looking at a mirror, so that probably keeps him amused.”

Cody pushed Ted’s arm playfully. “He’s not that vain.”

“Oh, he is. He even accepts that he is.” Ted smirked a little. “That’s probably the difference. I’m not sure I could spend all day in the gym looking at this face.”

“I could spend all day anywhere looking at your face,” said Cody without thinking and then coloured, Ted doing the same. “Uh, it’s a good face is what I meant,” Cody added and then turned a deeper shade of red. How much of an idiot did he sound right now?

Ted chuckled a little, looking flustered. “The feeling’s mutual,” he said, sounding a little pleased. 

Cody wanted to keep his gaze firmly down but he couldn’t resist glancing up and seeing Ted smiling at him. While that comment was something of a conversation killer, Ted didn’t seem to have taken the statement as a sign that Cody was completely hopeless and Cody took that as a sign that he was still in favour. Leaning forward, he wasn’t sure if he was planning to kiss Ted on the mouth or the cheek and ended up with some lame in-between thing landing on the corner of Ted’s lips. The blonde did something to him and while he rather liked it, he couldn’t deny it left him feeling completely out of his depth and it didn’t help that he already knew that Ted was equally thrown. 

When Cody pulled back hurriedly Ted followed him, reigniting the kiss. Cody surprised himself with a quiet sound that sounded almost like a growl, kissing back and quickly realising he was going to have to move away. Not because he wanted to, quite the opposite, but because semi-turned with one hand leaning on the bed taking his weight, it wasn’t likely he’d be able to keep it up without causing himself some serious pain. 

He really didn’t want to stop. 

Not letting himself think about it, he broke the kiss and before Ted could really pull back he scooted forward, straddling Ted’s knee and starting the kiss once more. It was Ted’s turn to make some startled, muffled sound and for a second Cody thought he’d come on too strong but then Ted’s arms went around him, hands on his back and he decided that maybe he should take his fears out of the equation more often. 

Of course, there was no hiding the more sexual aspect of this position and Cody noticed right away that Ted was very attracted to him, if what he felt was any indication. Allowing his tongue to peruse Ted’s mouth rather languidly, he shifted his weight a little and a sudden bolt of lust shot through him with such force it left him temporarily breathless. His kisses became quickly a lot more urgent, hands going to the back of Ted’s head and tugging gently at his hair. Cody didn’t consider himself particularly experienced, although he’d had a few lovers; most of them had been nice enough and everything had been acceptable but they did tend to go off him almost overnight thanks to his gifts and even those who were initially accepting would quickly get creeped out or overly paranoid about what Cody might know about them. There had never been anything like the understanding that Ted showed him but there was more to it than shared experience. He’d never been so instantly attracted to anyone the way he was to Ted, he had never been so easily able to talk about the things that interested or mattered to him without feeling even a little self-conscious. There was a very clear physical attraction between them but there was also something more, something he knew without knowing how he knew, the same way as he saw the pictures in his mind and just knew that they were the truth when he touched just the right object. 

He shifted again, a little more slyly this time and Ted gasped, breaking the kiss. “Cody—“

“Teddy.” Cody bit his lip a moment, unaware of how the image he presented made Ted want to take back even that one word and kiss the other man senseless. “Listen. I just... you’re not the only one who sees the wasted potential and chances all the time. All the chances people never took and always regretted. I don’t want my life to be like that. I see you and the more I spend time with you, I want to make the most of this time. I want to be able to say I made the most of the best thing that ever crossed my path. And I didn’t let fear or anything else stand between me and him.” Inwardly he grimaced. He was supposed to be a writer? That string of words had barely made any sense to him and he thought he knew what he was trying to say. Ted wouldn’t have a clue. 

Ted moistened his lips in an unconscious imitation of what Cody was doing with his teeth, his mind drawn suddenly and reluctantly back through his entire romantic life. It didn’t take long. His mild, unremarkable crush on Randy which hadn’t lasted and mainly been because he had been the best looking man Ted knew at the time, dissipating when he really examined how he felt and knew he and Randy were in no way compatible. His first fumbled encounter with a girl who was a friend of Randy’s, a woman a year or so older than he was and one who was willing to make the most of any chance of sex – the whole thing had been a disaster because he simply had no interest whatsoever in women and her rather blasé attitude to it all turned him off. An almost-lover during his first year on the road, when he had been naive and alone and rather afraid, with no idea how to handle the attention and strife that came with seeing the dead. They had never gotten as far as sex and he was grateful in retrospect, the wrench when he had been taken from that city would have been too much if there had been more between them, as it was he had enjoyed the things that they had done together and it had given him some starting point later on. An actual lover, his one and only to date, in another place, a backwater town that had a surprisingly high population that had spread out over a large area. One of the locals thought it amusing to set traps in the woods that caught the unwary, a complete psycho who had been one of the few genuinely terrifying men Ted had encountered. He had led authorities to five bodies buried behind his house and had a relatively short-lived affair with an achingly beautiful, somewhat androgynous young man who hadn’t been shy about what he wanted and had been merely marking time until he was able to make a break for better things. Ted had been just short of twenty and physically infatuated, although he had found the boy rather tiresome when he used his mouth for talking. And then he had given up on the idea of staying still long enough for much more. There had been the occasional drunken and anonymous encounter when it had all gotten too much, a couple of instances of mutual masturbation in bar bathrooms, the one time he had actually allowed himself to be approached by someone who offered him respite, for a price, panicking and backing out before they got anywhere near his hotel room. Nothing spectacular, unless one counted a spectacular catalogue of failure. 

Cody was different. Cody was special. And although a part of Ted felt that he should run a mile from this man who had gotten past his defences so easily and might well be the one who broke his heart, he simply couldn’t. It was more than affection or loneliness or any of the other emotions that had guided his previous encounters. It was a need and he thought that if he was somehow able to deny Cody, he would physically implode. 

“Do you want me to stay?” he asked softly, then cursed the way he sounded. His tone of voice made him sound as if he was being understanding of Cody rather than needy for him, that his question was more about humouring the other man. 

Cody looked him in the eye. “Do you want to stay?”

Ted nodded without even thinking about it. “More than anything else.”

Cody hesitated, as if he was judging if Ted truly meant it and if they were talking about the same thing rather than the innocent sharing of a bed they had done the night before. Then he smiled, rather shyly and Ted felt a sudden and rather uncharacteristic lump in his throat. In spite of the wicked gleam in his eye, Cody looked almost heartbreakingly happy. 

“I want to see all of you Ted,” he said, tone light enough but with duelling undertones of both uncertainty and demand that affected Ted in a way he wasn’t sure how to describe, even to himself. Ted nodded, trying to chase away his nerves at being judged by someone he considered the most perfect looking person he’d ever met, rising from the bed and rather mechanically removing his clothes – shirt, socks, jeans and underwear. He was a little afraid to turn around, given that he was completely aroused now and although he didn’t think that Cody would react badly, he didn’t know. But when he did Cody seemed wholly appreciative and not even a little judgemental – or if he was, the judgement was wholly favourable. 

Cody took Ted’s hand and pulled him to the bed, straddling him once more. Ted chuckled. “Um, am I the only one who has to be naked for this?”

“Nope,” replied Cody with a slight smile. “But if I don’t keep some kind of layer between us, I might get carried away. And I don’t want to rush this at all.”

There were no more words, there was no need. Cody took over, allowing himself the touch he had wanted for so long, caressing every inch of Ted’s body with his hands and his mouth. For a time Ted let himself lie back and enjoy the feeling of someone so fascinated with him and how he felt, how he reacted to fingers on his abs or breath on his neck. But it soon became too much and he reached out to pull Cody’s clothes from him, throwing them heedlessly aside and become once more lost in the sensation of skin against skin. There was no question of how far they were willing to go, neither man could have stopped now. 

Ted wasn’t at all surprised that Cody had a small, unopened pot of lube in his bedside drawer and he could recall how to prepare a lover from the long, stifling afternoons spent in his first lovers trailer while he took his mind from the vile things that had occurred three miles down the road. But it had been a long time and Cody was entirely different from that other man. Ted took his time, experimenting a little with touch and depth, revelling in every sigh and moan that Cody made. It didn’t take too long before Cody was grabbing for his shoulders, a flush over his cheeks and barely visible on his tanned chest, telling Ted that he was ready, very ready. Ted nodded, not trusting himself to speak in case his voice broke. His own cock was standing hard against his stomach and Cody wasn’t the only one who was very ready for this. 

As soon as he withdrew from Cody the younger man moved, pushing Ted back until he was seated and then taking his place on Ted’s lap. Ted’s eyes widened a little, this was something new to him. But Cody put him at ease by nipping lightly at his collar before wrapping a hand around Ted’s cock so that he could slowly lower himself onto it. Ted let out a hissing breath, telling himself it would not be polite to cum right then and there no matter how much he felt like doing so and somehow he kept his head long enough for Cody to seat himself entirely on Ted before stopping a moment, his breath coming in shallow gasps. Ted wrapped his arms around Cody’s waist, suddenly very glad for the position they were in – it meant that he could watch Cody’s face, see in his eyes and still touch every inch of him while they were joined. And then Cody started to move and Ted let go of any kind of rational thought altogether. 

He couldn’t have guessed how long they spent in the middle of the bed, making love for the first time – it felt like hours and yet still nowhere near long enough. He heard every word that Cody breathed into his ear, savoured every touch between them, every desperate, messy kiss. He just knew that it was the most intense, incredible thing he had ever encountered and when he felt himself nearing his climax he tried to stave it off even as he sought it. It was too good to end and far too good to last. In the end he had no choice, he was pushed over the edge when Cody let out a cry that echoed around the room, his release coating both of their abs, his inner muscles clenching hard around Ted and forcing orgasm from him. Ted’s cries joined Cody’s, short nails raking the man’s back and in the aftermath, a peace he hadn’t known possible washed over him.   
In the end they slept, still naked and with their combined sweat drying on their bodies, tangled up in one another.


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Bookshop Bizarre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Randy teases and goads Ted into telling him what happened the night before. Cody, whilst parted from his lover, finds himself running into someone unexpected: Melina Morrison.

When Ted awoke the next morning to find Cody’s slumbering face inches from their own and their pleasantly naked bodies still pressed together he vehemently wished for time to stop, even just for a little while, so he could take in this scene for a little while longer before life interrupted as it was want to do. Cody looked beautiful when he slept. Well, of course he was beautiful when he was awake, breathtakingly so, but when he was like this Ted got to witness a more vulnerable side to him that was probably not seen by many people, if any at all. His lashes were so long they cast shadows on his high cheekbones, and his lips were parted just slightly with deep breaths. He hadn’t drooled, but Ted doubted that even something like that would have made him find Cody any less attractive.

He was so lost in just looking at Cody that he actually missed the fact that the other had awoken.

“… I didn’t drool did I?” he mumbled sleepily, smiling.

Ted smiled softly back, fingers stroking lightly up and down Cody’s exposed back, feeling goosebumps breaking out over the other’s warm flesh as he did so, “Only a little, but it’s OK.”

Cody immediately brought a hand to his mouth, pouting softly when Ted started to chuckle, poking him lightly in the ribs, “Asshole.”

“You’re so romantic in the morning.”

“Hush your mouth.”

“Yes dear,” Ted mimed zipping his lips.

Laughing softly Cody stretched as much as he could without jostling the other too much, leaning in to brush his lips over Ted’s cheek, only Ted turned his head enough to make their lips meet. Cody was quick to pull back, mildly embarrassed, “Morning breath—“he started, but Ted merely shook his head and cupped the back of Cody’s neck with his other hand and murmured, “I don’t care,” before pulling him into another kiss that Cody didn’t fight this time around.

When they parted Cody rested his forehead against Ted’s, breathing slightly irregular, “I don’t want to make the mood serious here…” Cody murmured with a slightly shy look, “But I could really get used to waking up like this with you in a morning.”

Mildly surprised by how little such an admittance panicked him now Ted merely smiled back, “I could get used to waking up with you too… and going to bed with you,” he paused, “Wait, that sounded a little less pervy and more affectionate in my head—”

Cody giggled, embarrassing Ted further, but since the laugh wasn’t malicious he was able to relax against it.

“Fancy some breakfast?”

“You still want me around then?”

“If I didn’t prove that to you last night my technique must be slipping.”

~::~

“Ted stayed out against last night.”

“It’s OK mummy, I’m sure our little boy’s fine,” John yawned, trying not to slump into the coffee Randy had made him; he’d rolled in a stupid o’clock the night before, and it had been no time at all since his alarm had gone off. He knew that what he wasn’t doing was neither good for his health or his concentration but he had spent most of the evening in Shawn Michaels’ office alongside that man and the higher-up figure of Hunter Hearst Helmsley (known behind his back as Triple H) trying to explain everything they had found thus far and attempting to gain court orders and other permission to have the search credited as being conducted on a proper level; they had followed protocol and used proper equipment after all, he just negated to mention that there had been civilians there. Instead he covered the omission by claiming that they had decided to check the garden because it had seemed as though someone had laid down new grass for it recently and the estate agents hadn’t authorised such a thing to attract new buyers.

They hadn’t been overly forthcoming but in the light of two ID’s and his evidence gained as opposed to nothing else they had authorised him to carry on his investigation, but told him that he should be focusing their resources now to catch the people ID’d… if anything, they said, they had some answering to do concerning the foster daughter they had had who was now missing and whose DNA was all over a heavy statue that could have easily been used as a weapon.

Large hands rested on his shoulders and started kneading, causing John to moan quietly and slump further against the table. Warm breath washed over his ear as Randy murmured, “You look exhausted; you should know better than to work yourself down to the grain like this. You’ve made good progress, you have something to aim for now, you should give yourself the chance to rest and recuperate before throwing everything into it to end the game, so to speak.”

“I’m fine,” he tried, but the heavy yawn that broke through belayed his words.

“I want you home at the end of the day.”

“Work—”

“Can’t make you stay behind unless there’s an emergency,” Randy said firmly, “And you are not going to choose to stay behind today.”

If anything Randy thought the whole task-force could do with just stopping and taking a breather. Surely they had all figured out by now that it was when they focused too much on something that that was when they ended up missing details as their scope of focus had become narrowed.

“Yes mum.”

“Actually, I think you’ll find that it’s ‘daddy’.”

“Kinky bastard.”

“You love it.”

“Mhm,” John downed the coffee as quickly as he could, hoping the caffeine would be enough to keep him going at least until he got to the office… wherein he’d get some more coffee to keep him going until lunchtime when he’d force himself to have some proper food and not just grab a bag of crisps from the vending machine downstairs as he was wont to do, or to just take one of the Pot Noodles he usually kept stashed in his desk down towards the staff kettle.

“I’ll see you later?” Randy asked, and John noticed then how concerned his lover looked and immediately felt guilty that he had caused him such concern.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can,” that was as good a promise as John could make Randy, because something usually always happened to scupper any firm plans they made, regardless of what those plans were, and he hated breaking his word to the other.

Randy sighed, but then quirked a slight smile, “Just be careful OK?”

Smiling back as much as he could John leant in for a kiss, “I always am,” and then headed to the door, shrugging into his coat, toeing on his shoes, grabbing his briefcase and then he was off again.

Exhaling a breath Randy slumped back into his seat at the table, head in his hands and staring morosely as his own cup of coffee, John’s still in place since the other had forgotten to put it in the sink as he would usually do on the way out. He could really hate John’s job sometimes, especially with the amount of pressure it put on him and the amount of time he was away from home, but John loved what he did, be was built to serve people, to help, and so it was really hard to broach the subject sometimes… even though John really needed a kick up the backside sometimes when he got too involved. Of course, when he was working it sometimes made it a little easier to have his attention focused away from worrying about John for a while, but as things stood at the moment he had nothing but time on his hands and terrible images in his head.

John was going to be destroyed when they found those kids’ bodies, especially if it turns out that even more have been hurt before they could find them.

Randy was definitely not looking forward to that day in the slightest.

When the front door open he lifted his head from the table and arched his brows somewhat; Ted looked as though someone had doped his morning coffee with Prozac and a Red Bull, cheerily, dreamy even, and far too energetic for someone this early in the morning.

“Go away… you’re too happy.”

“And you aren’t happy enough,” Ted returned amicably, unconcerned that once again he was being caught out wearing the same clothing but this time with hair that was still slightly damp from the shower that he and Cody had shared together after breakfast before he had forced himself to head back to Randy’s, “Come on Rand, let’s go to the gym or something; it’s a lovely day.”

Staring at Ted as though he had suddenly sprouted a second head right in front of him, Randy then smirked slowly as he seemed to put two and two together, thoughts of teasing his friend chasing worries about his lover from his mind for the moment, “Well, somebody got some last night, didn’t they? Sit down, and tell Uncle Randy all about it.”

~::~

“Morning Ev.”

“Good morning Chris,” Evan smiled softly as the man entered the break-room, moving into the cupboard and seeking out his mug before then moving across to the kettle that Evan had just made a fresh brew in moments before, the technician nursing a coffee of his own as he methodically added sugar and milk to get it the way he liked it first thing.

It was slightly awkward, but not in a bad way… in a first date kind of way, though technically that could have been considered their one-and-a-half-date as it had followed their first but had hardly ben conducive of a romantic atmosphere or anything like that. Chris had been the perfect gentleman the night before; they’d talked until it really had been time for them to part, and when Evan had walked him to the door Chris had given him the sweetest, gentlest kiss he’d ever received from another person. The tenderness of the gesture was something he hadn’t quite expected from Chris, but he would have been lying big time if he said he hadn’t appreciated it, enjoyed it.

Only downside had been that he hadn’t actually slept that much because he’d had several twisted dreams veering between pleasant and downright unnerving, with Chris and the eerie angel starring respective roles.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Well… I slept,” Evan chuckled briefly.

Chris stepped forward then, closer, and Evan almost spilled his coffee in surprise as Chris’ subtle cologne and undeniable presence filled his space. When a slightly calloused hand (hadn’t Chris mentioned he’d been a guitar player of something once?) covered his forehead the technician was caught completely off-guard and he blinked up at Chris as though he didn’t understand what was happening.

“I think you’ve got a bit of a fever, Evan,” and he sounded serious and concerned.

“What? But I feel fine…”

“It could just be a cold,” Chris nodded, thinking that maybe just because technicians didn’t rush around the streets the way that they did that that they didn’t get sick or stressed, but that wasn’t true, “But still; make sure you keep up the fluids, have something proper to eat and leave on time tonight to go home and rest.”

Evan blushed darkly; did he really seem so hopeless that Chris felt the need to mother him? He was no fool, actually, he had quite the notable IQ…

Before he could say anything though someone poked their head around the door, probably a new recruit or something, Evan had certainly never seen him before whoever it was, “Sir? You’re wanted.”

Chris huffed a breath but nodded, and when the man hastened off Chris brushed a fleeting kiss over Evan’s cheek, “Just don’t overdo it, OK?” and then he headed off to answer whatever summons it was.

~::~ 

Randy didn’t want to leave the subject alone. He had managed to tease Ted plenty and already knew pretty much what had happened, but now he was pestering for details.

“Come on Ted,” he resorted in the end, Ted really wasn’t giving him much to work with.

“What are you, some gossipy old woman? A gentleman doesn’t tell.”

“Bullshit. I’ll tell you about my sex life if you tell me about yours.”

“I don’t wanna know about your sex life! I have to look John in the eye tonight!”

“That’s nothing compared to what I have to look him in...”

Ted clapped his hands over his ears. “La la la, not listening.”

Randy smirked. “I can’t believe I’m not getting more from you... at least I don’t have to ask if it was worth it. You’re blushing like mad and there’s still that grin.”

Ted shook his head, realising Randy was right. The grin wasn’t going anywhere.

“So, does this mean that you’re gonna be seeing a lot more of him?” asked Randy slyly. 

“As much as I can while I’m here.” Ted didn’t exactly stop smiling but Randy could almost see the way Ted’s mind acknowledged the thought and shoved it away before it could bring him down. He didn’t like it; Ted was rich, single and with nothing to tie him down anywhere, he should be able to stay as long as he wanted or go drop in on Cody if the other had to leave. 

“It’s about time,” Randy commented, leaning back with the smirk still intact so as to not give away what he was thinking. “I thought I was gonna have to lock you two in a closet or something. I take it you won’t be partaking in the joys of sleeping on our couch now?”

“I can’t just spend every night over there,” said Ted reasonably. “I have to wait to be invited—“

“Again, bullshit. You just go on over there and seduce him, same as you did last night.”

“I wouldn’t say I seduced him—“

“So he seduced you?”

“I see what you’re doing there.” Ted stuck his tongue out. “Won’t work. I’m not telling you a thing.”

“You’re such a pain.” Randy shook his head. “I think I should ask Cody—“

“Don’t you dare!”

“Maybe if you’re nice to me for the rest of the day.” Randy looked like he was trying to think of something for Ted to do to start slaving for him in exchange for not giving Cody the third degree, then laughed. “I’d suggest a work-out, but I think you already got one. You wanna use our bed for a nap, since you didn’t get much sleep last night?”

“I’m good thanks,” returned Ted. “And yeah, I can go for a work-out, if we can go to your gym.”

“Well, we know who didn’t bottom last night,” commented Randy, then ducked as Ted threw a cushion at his head. 

~:~

Cody wasn’t sure what led him on a walk around the city. He hadn’t seen very much of it, and what he had seen involved the cop shop and the more urban areas where some of the kids had lived. He could have called and asked Ted to join him but he thought he should give the other man some space for a while. They would be seeing each other that night no doubt and if Ted called he would happily drop everything to hang out with him, but he didn’t want to come across as clingy. But he didn’t feel like writing at the moment – life was too good to be losing himself in an unreal world right then – and he didn’t feel like hanging around the hotel either. A walk would do him good, some window-shopping while he got his mind together. For Cody, window-shopping tended to involve going to the biggest book shop he could find and looking around for an hour before buying as little as he could bear (which sometimes wasn’t saying much, there was all too often some book or books he just had to buy) and then finding the more specialised shops, the comic books stores, or the ones that specialised in fantasy and science fiction, or the ones that were floor-to-ceiling second hand books with the Tardis-like ability to be somehow larger on the inside than it seemed possible from without. He would also admit to seeing how many of his own books were in each shop, although he was fortunately not really recognised. He supposed most authors could get away with that unless they were JK Rowling or Steven King. It had only happened once in fact, the shop had been empty save for himself and the owner had asked for a signature before offering Cody coffee. They’d spent a pleasant couple of hours chatting about books and Cody had signed several more books so that he could sell them for more than he might usually have done. 

This time of course, he might be tempted to head to a clothes shop, although he usually only shopped when he really had to. It might be an idea to have something to wear that would turn Ted’s head, although outside of jeans twinned with a dress shirt, he didn’t really have all that many options. Perhaps women had the right idea. 

Well, maybe he would take Ted somewhere someday where they could wear suits. He would just bet that Ted could rock a suit. 

Smiling to himself, he wandered down what seemed to be a main street and checked out the occasional window. As he went past the sports equipment shop he slowed a little, staring at the display. Perhaps Ted would like a gift? And if so, what? He was the outdoor type, Cody knew that, but buying something for him to do any kind of sport with was just madness. He would have to carry it across the country with him, which wasn’t good, or else leave it at Randy’s, which wasn’t the point. Even the smaller things weren’t really practical, more weird. He picked up the pace a little and glanced at the next shop. Jewellery. Yeah, that would look even weirder. He kept on going. 

He passed a few more shops, including a bakers and a chocolatier, both of which gave him a little pause. If they weren’t planning to go out that night, then perhaps a little something special for dessert could go down well. He desperately wanted Ted to think he was worth the effort – and if the previous night was anything to go by, he already did. Cody grinned to himself and continued down the road. He’d pick up the food later on, but for the moment he’d get on with just enjoying the day. 

There was a bookshop in downtown St Louis as it turned out, a massive shop that was part of a national chain. The sight of it was just another thing to make Cody feel that the day was going well. Hell, there was even a place on the top floor to get coffee. Cody was in two minds about the coffee bars in bookshops but he was glad of them that day, he wouldn’t mind picking something up and then treating himself to some caffeine. A real diet-breaker – and with the numbers of diet-breakers he’d been indulging in lately, he was going to end up looking like his old man. Maybe he could burn it off later. 

His good humour was intact as he wandered around, first looking in bestsellers and then, feeling a little surreptitious and guilty as he did so, headed off to see if there were any of his own books in stock. Because he wrote under more than one name and in more than one genre, it wasn’t a simple matter of just going to find himself and it wasn’t as if he could see how a book was doing just by looking at the pile, unless it was just released and on a display. He was a little gratified to see that where his own books were, the ones that were labours of love and had the best of himself, were well represented and there was a gap that suggested someone had purchased one. Even if they hadn’t, that was what he was telling himself as he went over to the none-fiction section. He wanted to see how his other books, the ones that paid the bills, were doing and as well as that he’d just had a brain wave. Perhaps it would be a nice idea to buy Ted a book, a paperback that had something like sporting anecdotes in there. It would make him smile and it needn’t be too cumbersome to take with him. In Cody’s humble opinion, books were the answer most of the time. 

There was a how-to guide that was one of his on the eye-level shelf as he approached – he said his, it was actually co-written. The person who had all the facts on the topic had barely been able to string a coherent sentence together and while Cody had no know-how, he was an engaging writer and could fathom out the notes and cope with an occasional middle of the night call with some half-heard anecdote. The book itself had done well enough that it was worth the hard work it took, Cody just wished the books he wrote for the sheer joy of it were half as popular. 

A woman passed in front of him, making him pause as he went to the shelf. She didn’t even see him, her head down as she checked out the blurb on the book she was reading. On any other day this would have annoyed Cody, there was no excuse for wandering without looking, but today he simply smiled and thought of Ted. Nothing was going to kill his mood. 

The smile wavered a little when the woman apparently decided against the book and still not looking at him or anyone else, dumped it on the nearest shelf. In front of the books that Cody had written, obscuring them from view. She took off toward another shelf and he shot her an irritated glance as he moved to the shelf, reaching out to move the book so that his own work was visible. 

The moment he touched the book he felt a wave coming over him and he had just enough time to curse his gift and his own stupidity in forgetting it when he was about to touch something someone else had been handling moments before him. He was usually braced for this kind of thing but not today; his mind had been elsewhere. Too bad. And in any case, he had the jumbled sensation that he wouldn’t have been able to block this one off if he tried. The emotions were too strong, too recent and familiar.

“All over the fucking news John, all over the news! They’re out there looking for me!”

“Just calm down baby. That picture doesn’t look much like you—“

“Are you mad? It’s just like me. What’ll happen to the kids if they find us, huh? How much do they know? What—“

“Hush.”

A face swam into his consciousness, dark haired with perhaps a weeks worth of stubble on the jaw. Familiar. Serious dark eyes beneath frowning brows. “Perhaps we should cut our losses, get rid of the kids and make a run for somewhere else. Let the heat die down a—“

“NO! They’re MY kids and I worked too hard to have them! How could you even suggest we abandon our children?”

A sigh from the man. “Then perhaps we should hole up outta sight for a while. Stay in the house. If no one sees us, maybe we can get away with it until they stop showing the pictures. And it wouldn’t hurt to change the way the kids look either.”

“...That’s not a bad idea. I knew you’d come up with something! I’ll have to get us some supplies though, we’ve not got much and we’ll need to make sure no one knows we’re home. No power. No TV. Books maybe, some board games. Candles. Camper stove. Food. We need all that stuff.”

“We’re not hiding out that seriously—“

“We have to! And we need to prepare. Like those people on TV who think there’s an apocalypse coming. We need to defend ourselves. We need to make this house a fortress, no one in or out. We need to make this whole house our shelter.”

“Well...” Cody can read the doubt in his eyes but he knows dimly that the woman did not. “That sounds like a plan. I’ll go get some food...”

“I’ll go get the food. Men can’t shop! And I’ll get some books to tell us how to make the house safer. And a camper stove and some candles. And—“

“Is that wise Mel? You’re the one who’s been all over the news.”

“Oh come on. I can disguise myself! I’ll wear a big sunhat and some shades and, and something that makes me look old and fat. You stay here with the children. I’ll just get ready and I’ll be as quick as I can. And anyone who comes in here looking to take my children from me is in for a big fucking surprise…”

“Excuse me, sir?”

Cody gasped, somehow managing not to yell out, which would have been just too embarrassing and attract all the wrong kind of attention. There was a sales assistant next to him, late teens or early twenties perhaps, wide-eyed and worried looking. She smiled at him but there was clear concern in her face. “You’re pale, do you feel okay?”

Cody whipped his head around, searching for the woman who’d had the book. For a heart-stopping moment he thought she’d left and then he caught sight of her, standing near a section just past the sports books he’d been planning on checking out. Maybe she’d gone on past hunting and was on the survivalist prepper stuff. That’s where he would keep it. 

She didn’t look like the photofit they’d gotten from Dylan, or the pictures that they’d gotten from the internet. Oversized shades hid her eyes and changed the appearance of her face, she wore no earrings and only a simple thin gold chain. A sunhat with a large brim shaded her face and it was impossible to see the length of her hair thanks to the hat, even the colour only a suggestion of her eyebrows. No matter what she’d been thinking about hiding her body shape she hadn’t done that, the patterned dress actually complimenting her well and showing slender arms, the hem hanging just below the knee. Nothing like how he knew Melina liked to dress and he wouldn’t have looked twice at her – but he knew. It was her.

“Sir?”

He turned his attention back quickly toward the assistant, aware but not caring that he probably looked a little wild-eyed. “I’m sorry. I just got over an illness and I guess I had a bit of a relapse. Felt faint for a moment, just a bit woozy. I’m over it.” 

The assistant nodded, not looking too sure and Cody knew he’d overdone it. Still, he wasn’t used to lying and acting on the spur of the moment. He wished Ted was there, who seemed so much better at this kind of thing than he was. “I can get you a glass of water, if you’d like to sit down for a moment.”

“I feel fine now, thank you.” He managed a far more genuine smile at the assistant and he could see her weighing up what he had told her, combining them with her manners and deciding to leave him be. She told him he was welcome to find her should he change his mind and left him be, but Cody barely realised. He was watching Melina. 

What are the chances of just running into her one day? 

Better than one might think – he knew that coincidences were surprisingly common, he’d worked too often on unravelling mysteries that relied on them to happen. But from what he had seen, they might have real problems. Melina was on edge and unstable. She was preparing for a war if anyone found her. And she’d already gotten rid of two of the children she supposedly wanted, accidentally but that didn’t change the fact. 

He reached for his phone, keeping her in his sights as she carelessly grabbed a pile of books and headed for the counter. 

~::~

“Hello?”

“John?”

“Cody--- are you alright?” John had spoken to enough people over the phone in his career to be able to tell when someone sounded off.

“I—I—“Cody seemed to fade out a moment and John heard the faint sound of a bell jingling in the background; was he in a shop? A small thought in the back of John’s mind said that although it was cute Cody might want to buy Ted something he was hardly the one to call for advice… especially when he was in the middle of work and all. However, he had the feeling that that wasn’t where the other was going with this.

“Cody…”

“John, it’s her. I swear, the woman that took the kids—”

John bolted upright in his chair and gripped his phone tighter, “What?”

“She just--- I didn’t really notice—“Cody was babbling at ten miles an hour and John was struggling to keep up with him, “But then she put this book down--- and I mean, really rude, she put it in front of my books--- and then whoosh I got this feeling from her and--- you need to get those kids fast John! The two of them are planning to lay low and they’re going to do it with a house locked up tighter than Fort Knox by the time they’re finished with their preparations. I’m going to follow her, OK?”

An alarm bell immediately started ringing in the back of John’s head, “Cody, wait—!”

“I’m at the bookstore on the corner of D-something Drive, it’s the really big shop—“he explained since his mind had blanked on what street he had been walking down when he had been heading down back in his good mood, “Just get here as soon as you can, and I’ll call you back soon.”

“CODY!” John shouted, cursing when the automated female voice started speaking in his ear telling him that he should leave his message after the tone. Groaning, John threw on his jacket and almost flew out of his office, calling a hasty apology to Kofi whom he almost knocked on his ass when he passed him, not seeing Chris and Evan heading his way as he started down the stairs, bypassing the lift.

Evan glanced up at Chris, carefully measured panic on his face, “What’s happening?”

Chris looked concerned too but also confused on top of that, “I don’t know…” because no one else but John seemed to be in a flap, and indeed when he asked Kofi what had happened the African native shrugged and responded that he didn’t know, but he’d heard him on the phone with someone beforehand, so maybe it was something at home?

“It’d need to be something serious if John’d run out of work without telling anyone, right?” it was well known within the precinct how much of a workhorse John was, rarely taking sick or personal days.

“Yeah…” Chris murmured, “Maybe we should follow him, lend a hand if need be?”

“Can we do that?”

“Honestly? Probably not,” Chris admitted; neither of them really had reason to be tailing John, and the fact that he was a whole ‘nother department and Evan was a techie would further raise eyebrows from fellows, “Guess we should just hang back and see what happens…”

Evan could see he wasn’t the only one who was bothered by that thought, but there wasn’t much else they could do. If it did turn out to be a personal problem at home or with his family then John would just be more embarrassed than anything else and they would both be scolded for not paying attention to their own jobs and duties respectively.

“Maybe I should call Randy?”

“You have Randy’s phone number?”

Evan tried to smile though there wasn’t much amusement in it as he pulled his phone from his pocket and swiftly scrolled through his contacts, “We went to school together funnily enough in high school… that John ended up moving here and I got to be friends with him too and then got back in touch with Randy was pure coincidence.”

Despite himself Chris sincerely hoped that that was all it was.

~::~

“John—”

“Is Cody with you?”

“What?” Randy frowned, draining some water from the bottle he and Ted had just brought from the vending machines just by the gym lobby on their way out, both men freshly showered and changed after their quite vigorous workout mere moments before, “Cody?” Ted immediately looked up from his own bottle and sent Randy a look that was immediately questioning.

“Fuck!” John growled, causing Randy’s former smile to slip, pushing open the door of the gym. 

“What’s happened? Is he alright?”

“He was,” John said grimly, and Randy heard the sound of a car door slamming, and then John’s voice suddenly seemed louder, accompanied by a clicking sound—Randy deduced that John had put his phone on speaker and into the hands-free holder so that he wouldn’t be breaking the law driving and talking at the same time. It was a mark of how good a man he was that he still thought about things like that even when he was clearly in a rush, “Whether it stays that way I have no idea.”

“What the hell is going on John?”

“What is it?” Ted hissed into his ear, Randy automatically swatting at him and then having the thought of just putting the phone on speaker as well that way as he drove Ted could hold the phone and they could keep updated with John.

“Cody called me just now, panicking, said that he’s found the woman who’s been taking the kids.”

“He what?”

“Yeah, and then he says he’s going to follow her back and see where she goes because apparently they’re planning to go into hiding—”

“Is Cody stupid?” Randy demanded, ignoring the small look Ted sent him, undoubtedly subconsciously, “Where did he go?”

“I have a feeling--- I’m heading over there now.”

“We can meet you—”

“I don’t know if that’d be such a good—”

“John,” Ted’s voice was firmer than Randy had heard it in a long time, “Where. Are. You. Going?”

John frowned slightly but then exhaled; if he was in Ted’s position and his boyfriend went off gallivanting into potential danger he was pretty sure that he would be short-tempered to, “Alright…” he sighed, giving them the address of the street he was pretty sure that Cody had been referring to.

“We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

“We’d be there in five if you let me drive.”

“Yeah, right, good one.”

“We don’t have time for this—”

John veered hastily to avoid someone who wasn’t bothering to look where they were pulling out, trying to push the fact that they were squabbling like hell around him in the confined space of the car. If something happened to Cody, then even though he’d told the psychic not to go running off (or at least had tried to) he would still have it on his conscience regardless. The only reassurance John had that this wasn’t a mistake was that he doubted Cody would just go charging headlong after some random stranger, and he certainly wouldn’t get so freaked out over just anyone.

Even though it took barely ten minutes from the station John still felt that far too much time had passed. Skidding into a nearby car-park he slammed on the breaks, killed the engine and then started running towards the bookshop. In the back of his awareness he registered another car skidding nearby, but didn’t stop to see whether Randy and Ted had somehow managed to get through a few short-cuts and shave time off of their own journey.

Pushing open the door to the bookshop John made a beeline straight for the counter where a young woman who looked barely old enough to be out of college stood, flushing when John approached and subconsciously adjusting her posture to enhance her breasts. Now, under other circumstances John would have felt flattered by her attention (even though he wasn’t about to encourage it for obvious reasons) but as things stood in that moment he just didn’t have the time for it.

“Excuse me, was there a young guy in here earlier? About six three, dark hair, quite good looking?” and he meant that objectively, because obviously he didn’t have eyes for anyone other than Randy.

She seemed a little uncertain, as though deciding whether or not she should call her manager (or, amusingly, the cops) when John pulled his badge out and flashed it to her quickly but subtly; the last thing he wanted was to start a riot in the store because people misunderstood what he was doing there and who he was looking for.

“Yeah, there was a guy kinda like that… He looked kinda funny though, real pale, as though he’d had a shock. Honestly? I thought he was gonna throw up all over, but when I asked him if he wanted a glass of water or somethin’ he just said he’d been ill and was lapsing.”

Cody called himself a writer? Surely he come up with better lines!

“Did you see a woman in here at all?” John pulled a copy of the composite sketch from his pocket and held it out to her. She took it and studied it, but when she was still looking at it after about a minute and a half John already had the feeling that their elusive femme fatale had somehow managed to avoid detection again.

“That could be any number of women we get through here mister.”

Of course it could.

Taking back the sketch John hastily pulled one of his department cards from his pocket and held it out to her, “If anyone matching that description comes in, or you have any unusual purchases, whatever, then please call.”

“Sure,” the girl started, looking down at the card and then up again, “Can’t you tell me what—“but John was already heading back out of the door.

“John!”

Turning, John watched as Randy and Ted skid to a halt in front of him, apparently just on their way into the book shop. Ted grabbed the front of John’s coat, “Where is he? Is he OK?”

“Ted—“Randy prised his friend off, gently but firmly, “Just chill out OK?”

“I don’t know where he went but he definitely started out here.”

“Well we didn’t say anyone on the way back towards the main town…” Randy murmured, and from where they were placed there weren’t many streets leading into it.

“Have you tried ringing him since?”

“No—”

Ted yanked his phone out of his pocket, locating Cody’s number and hitting dial even as the three men started the opposite way down the street where they suspect Cody and the woman had gone.

Welcome to answer mail, please leave your message after the tone.

“Dammit!”

“What’s the matter?” Randy asked.

“Answer mail.”

“Let me try—”

“If he’s not answering for me what makes you think he’ll answer for you?”

“I know you’re frazzled right but there’s no excusing rudeness,” Randy muttered.

Ted seemed to quail slightly then, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool… Just try again.”

Ted nodded, hitting redial.


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Hit Where It Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody makes a wrong move and things begin to escalate quickly as Ted and the other's try to find him as quickly as they can.

She was fast.

Cody ducked against an alcove, aware that he probably looked like a really bad non-boss-villain from a fifties silent spy-film but he couldn’t help it; he’d never exactly followed someone to spy on them before, he hardly had a frame of reference for behaviour or anything like that. Several yards ahead of him the dark haired woman paused to turn a corner. It was funny, but had he not known for certain it was her he would have thought that she was completely innocent of anything, for she didn’t seem overly concerned… Well, aside from the way she turned her head sharply left and right to see whether she could cross roads, and he could have sworn that she kept looking behind her now and again.

BZZZT! BZZZT! 

“Stop calling me!” Cody mumbled to himself, thinking that he couldn’t risk starting a conversation as yet.

Mystery woman stopped, and turned a corner down what appeared to be a blind alley… something that confused Cody no end, but he stopped long enough to send a quick message of the last street sign he had seen, and then ‘right’ for the fact that he had turned right. Since then it seemed as though he had been submerged in a load of disused warehouses and former commercial buildings.

This didn’t seem right; he had specifically seen them mentioning a house?

But, maybe this was a shortcut.

Realising his quarry had vanished out of sight Cody swore quietly, picking up his steps and rounding yet another corner. Much to his surprise though he could make out a small residential estate a few metres from where he was, a marked difference from the industrial compound he felt like he was going to be lost in.

But---

Where was the woman?

It was mere seconds later when Cody realised he’d fucked up: she had realised he was there all along. When the cloth covered his mouth he struggled against it, determined not to breathe in even though his panic was automatically attempting to make him use his lungs more, to draw in air. Sharp nails clawed into his cheek and Cody swore that she had drawn blood. Just when he thought he might be able to free himself from her (jesus, did this woman work out or something?) her other hand suddenly moved between his legs and squeezed.

Attempting to resist breathing in was futile, and Cody groaned in pain as the chloroform or whatever cocktail of chemicals she’d been carrying on her filled his lungs. Immediately his world started to black out around the edges and he crumbled like a rookie boxer taking his first punch. Before he fainted, her heard,

“Now what am I supposed to do?”

~::~

“This is like searching for a needle in a damned haystack!” Ted clenched his fists, wondering what the hell had happened to Cody and why he hadn’t called back. If he was following the woman then perhaps he couldn’t risk it – but why was he following someone who was so dangerous? 

He didn’t need the answer to that; because Cody was as outraged and as determined to stop this woman as they all were. And had Ted been in the same position, he would have done the same thing. 

They had walked up and down the street with the bookshop on, occasionally asking shop workers if they had seen anyone fitting either Cody or the woman’s description. One woman said that she had seen Cody walking rather furtively away from the area, having noticed him while she was outside smoking, but no one else seemed to recall him and no one at all remembered her. Then again, Cody had said that he hadn’t initially recognised her either. 

“He’ll probably call back when he loses her,” said John comfortingly, somehow managing to hide the tension he was feeling. “She’ll get into a car, he might get the licence but he won’t exactly be able to follow her from there. It won’t be too long.”

Randy personally had some doubts about that and a very bad feeling about the whole situation, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Ted already looked panicked and he didn’t want to compound that. He knew the feeling all too well, when John was on some dangerous mission or he got a call or a visit from another cop to let him know that John was in the hospital having some wound patched up. He always flashed back to the gunshot scars that John carried, although in most cases it was simply a case of attending to and documenting some attempt at a punch or similar slight harms. He always freaked out though and knew from experience that it was always helpful when everyone around was calm and rather dismissive rather than serious and afraid. 

They walked a little further until the crowd had thinned and they were heading away from the shopping district. Ted eventually stopped dead as they got to an alley, with no one around but a man slumped on the floor in the shadows, dressed in layers of dirty rags and apparently asleep. John and Randy stopped as well and Randy pulled out his phone to call Cody again, frowning at the now-familiar message. 

“Where can he have gone?” Ted shook his head and managed to restrain from punching the wall. 

“Hey, spare some change?” asked the man on the floor hopefully, not asleep after all. 

Ted ignored him. “He has to be somewhere, he should have checked—“

“Hey MISTER! Spare some change?”

Irritably Ted dug into his pockets, tossed a handful of coins at the man without looking and continued. “He should have checked in if he wasn’t following her and why the hell did he follow her in the first place?”

“It’s okay Ted, we’ll find him soon and then you can yell at him for making you worry.” John’s voice was placating. “I’ve got a stress ball attached to my keyring if you want, no need to go throwing things.”

“What are you talking about? I was just giving that guy some change so he’d stop talking for a moment!”

“What guy?”

Ted stopped, looked closely at John and then glanced at the bum. He’d missed it the first time around in his agitation, but the guy looked a little more lucid than he would have expected and was making no move to pick up the change Ted had thrown at him, merely looking back at Ted with clear surprise on his face. 

A moment later Ted had his own phone out, finding the picture of Cody and showing it to the bum. “Hey, you seen this guy?”

“Sure.” The bum gave Ted a confused look. “You see me? I was starting to think I really was invisible. No one gave me nothing for months.”

“Look...” Ted sighed, hating this moment and wishing that there had been another, better time to go into this. “There’s a good reason for that but right now, I need to find this man. If you can help me, I swear I’ll be back to help you.”

The bum shrugged. “People don’t see me at all anymore and they weren’t much good at seeing me ever, not since I ended up here. He stepped right over me and went down here. After the girl.”

“Girl? You saw her?”

“Yeah. I mean, girl. She was trying to hide it, but she weren’t no girl. She was grown, maybe thirty if you look close but she was all covered up like she was pretending she was younger. Dressed young. I was following your boy because girls, they tend to get scared if you follow them but guys just give you something to stop following them. I was yelling at him and he was acting like I wasn’t even there, he was going after her...” 

Ted could tell that the bum hadn’t accepted that he was dead, but the suspicions were mounting up for him. He didn’t need the man to have his revelation now either; there was a tendency for freak-out and he needed to know what the bum had seen. He didn’t have the time to baby him. “Then what happened?”

“Well, the woman stepped out behind him, that’s what! She had this uh, a tissue and she puts it over his face and grabs him right by the balls. Gives ‘em an almighty twist, man, I could feel my eyes waterin’ when I saw it. He goes down like a sacka shit and he’s – it’s not like when you get a shot to the balls, he weren’t writhing ‘round. More like he was outta things altogether. Figure he breathed in something on that tissue, she took him by surprise and he didn’t get it off in time before she grabs his nuts. So he’s lying there and she’s storming ‘round, wringing her hands and asking herself what she’s gonna do. She gives him a kick and yells at him too. Then she pulls a phone outta her bag and starts shouting into it, about how they’re all fucked and the cops are after her. I dunno what she got told but she doesn’t calm all the way down, she stops shouting though and then she puts the phone away and starts pacing again. I thought she was gonna run and then I could get the guys wallet – hey, he’d be fine, he was dressed nice enough and I wasn’t gonna use the cards or nothing. Hell, I was gonna leave the wallet and just take the money—“

“It doesn’t matter about the wallet,” replied Ted as calmly as he could manage, fighting the rage that he was starting to feel at the description of what had happened to Cody. “Then what?”

“She don’t go and then the guy stirs and she gives him another dose of that tissue thing. There was something in her bag in a bottle, like a perfume thing and I kinda thought she’d be getting her scent on it, like on those old-time TV shows they used to have on, when I could watch TV. Don’t think it was that though, because he stops moving and then another guy turns up. She starts yelling at him, drops the tissue and hits him with her bag. Kinda funny to watch and that guy on the floor didn’t move an inch. The new guy, he talks to her all calm and then he grabs the other guy by the ankle and they head off.”

Ted took a deep breath, then turned to John and Randy, who were watching him with mild concern and surprise – they had seen him converse with the dead before but this was something else. “Give me those pictures of the pair.”

John passed them over wordlessly and Ted opened up the first one, the woman Melina. “Was this her?”

The bum looked, then shook his head slowly, a gesture of uncertainty rather than dismissal. “Dunno. She was wearing big glasses and a hat. All I can tell you is that it might be her, but I can’t tell you much ‘bout how she looked all covered up like she was.”

Ted nodded, anxiously opening up the other picture. Before he could ask anything else, the bum was nodding. “Sure, this was the guy who turned up. Hair was longer and he had more of a beard but that’s him. Looks a bit like that singer back in the sixties.”

 

“The Lizard King,” muttered Ted, almost to himself. “Did you follow them any further?”

“Well, by then I was kinda curious.” The bum smiled, revealing a few blackened teeth and a whole lot of gaps. His breath would probably have been horrific, had he been smelling of anything by then. “Yeah, I went after ‘em. There’s a wall at the end of the alley, round the corner from here. Leads to a buncha houses in the end, there’s a little gap you can get through. Not many people use it though, don’t think they know about it. Or maybe they don’t like going down here where I am, don’t like me following ‘em ‘til they give me some money. Anyway, they went there. He had a truck there, big red thing with the flat bed on the back. He picked the guy up and put him in the passenger side, then he drives off. And she hung around for a few minutes and then she took off after them.”

“How long ago?” Ted demanded. 

“Hell, weren’t more than five minutes. Maybe less. Soon as she took off, I came back here. Ain’t gonna make no money back there! And then you guys came along as soon as I sat down.”

“That little?” Ted stood up, pausing only for a moment. “What’s your name?”

“Joe Broker.”

“Joe. I’ll be back, I swear it. And I’ll do all I can to help you out, okay? But I have to go after him first.”

“Good luck.” The bum gave him another gap-toothed and rather unpleasant smile before settling himself back down again. The change that Ted had thrown at him remained untouched on the floor, not that Ted cared even slightly about it. 

Ted turned back to Randy and John, barely noting their expressions; the slightly stunned look of those who believed what he could do and were witnessing it for themselves. He was well used to the look, although he was more used to seeing the expressions of disbelief, disdain and pity instead. “Joe here saw Cody being taken by Morrison. Melina only left a minute or so ago, on foot. We might see her yet. If we keep in touch, we might be able to find her and chase her back to the house.”

John frowned. “I should call—“

“There’s no time! She’s close! And how are you gonna explain that you know Cody’s in trouble? I don’t think me or Joe are credible enough for you to call all cars!”

John didn’t agree with the phrasing but had to agree with the verdict; he was wasting time arguing and there was no way they would be able to track Melina if they waited, whereas they might just get the chance to find her now if they hurried and were lucky. “Okay. But she managed to get the drop on Cody somehow, she’s gonna be looking for a tail. We’ll split up but be careful. Don’t let her see you and if you see her, call me. If you see her go in a house, either of you, don’t hang around outside and don’t try to see in or anything that might alert them. Just call me and walk off.”

“Got it,” said Randy, his face a picture of tension. He wasn’t used to this kind of thing at all, when he was working he spent his time mostly in one position being told he was wonderful, dahling. 

“Let’s move,” said Ted determinedly. He wasn’t exactly unused to this kind of thing but he wasn’t an expert either and there had never been as much riding on the outcome as there was right now. 

The gap that Joe had described was there and they all went through it, seeing a maze of suburban type streets that seemed to be quiet and still. A little way down the road was another road bisecting it, leading off both ways while the same road continued straight ahead. They got to the junction and looked around. No sign of a woman and the road on the right curved out of sight, while the one on the left had several smaller roads leading from it. The way ahead had two smaller streets that looked to be cul-de-sacs and although it was hard to see, it seemed like there might be a third at the end of the street. John stopped them and looked around, making a quick decision. 

“Randy, you go that way.” He indicated to the road on the left. “Ted, you go that way and I’ll go straight on.”

“Right,” agreed Randy but Ted didn’t bother with even that, walking quickly in the direction John had told him to and knowing that if he didn’t see Melina here, then he would end up searching the whole area, knocking on doors and doing whatever it took to find his lover. He looked behind him once, seeing Randy’s unmistakable form in the distance but John was already out of his sight. 

Ted had followed people before while he was helping out the dead, but they were usually in sight or he had a little more to go on than he did this time and never before had it seemed so urgent... so personal. His fists clenched as he remembered what Joe had said about Cody being manhandled. That bitch would be lucky if he didn’t smack the information of his whereabouts out of her – oh who was he kidding? He’d never hit a woman, even if she had apparently crushed Cody’s balls. Her husband on the other hand, he was fair play and that meant that he had to find her and follow her.

Not that she seemed to be anywhere around. He picked up the pace as much as he dared, glancing at the houses as he went past them. While the junction they’d been at boasted relatively nice homes with tidy gardens, there seemed to be a quick deterioration going on here. There was a marked difference as the houses suddenly changed, clearly put up at an earlier date and apparently larger but in worse shape. Some people had made the effort to keep the outsides looking pleasant but a lot either couldn’t be bothered or were fighting a losing battle. There were signs of life but no sign of Melina. 

Running his hands through his hair, Ted picked up the pace even more until he was almost jogging through the neighbourhood, wanting to slow down but somehow not able to until he found something, saw something, anything that would help him find where Cody was. Desperation welled up inside him. If the van had taken Cody, then following her was the only chance they had of finding where he might be...

He got to a side street and looked down it, seeing something moving up ahead of him, a flash quickly gone. Working on instinct he turned and went that way, anxious to see if that was her – if it wasn’t, he was going to have to start knocking on doors, showing pictures, every second that passed putting Cody in greater danger. 

There was a rather elderly looking to let sign hanging in a lawn at the end of the street, the house it was attached to apparently empty for a while. It put Ted in mind of the house where Theresa still lingered and that made him even more uneasy. He drew level with it but he could easily see through the windows and there was no furniture, no sign that anyone had been there. If there had been movement, they must have gone into another house. 

He hung his head, closing his eyes. If only he had Cody’s gift, or if there had been someone around he could ask, then perhaps he could have searched more but there was nothing, only the sensation of a chance missed, time lost. Cody being stolen from him while all he could do was watch. 

He opened his eyes, thinking that he might just be able to find something, anything, that if his gift couldn’t help him find Cody from here then perhaps the powers of human observation and human perseverance might. Pulling out his phone, he glanced down at it to see that no one had called him and then moved onward, tucking the phone into his pocket as he looked at the empty house and letting his eyes move away...

His gaze alighted on the house next to the empty one and his heart nearly stopped. 

There was a child at the window, a little dark-skinned boy staring out but apparently not at him, not even seeming to see him. The net curtains obscured him a little but they were thin and cheap and Ted could still see him clearly enough to know that he recognised him. Even without the glasses, he was recognisable as one of the missing. 

His first instinct was to run to the house, kick down the door, demand that Cody was returned to him first and then the children as well. But his common sense won out a second later. Cody’s life was in danger and there were two of them, one of him. From what Cody had said she was a scared woman and he was a man who would do anything for her, they had already killed once and if they were found, they would have no reason to keep anyone alive at all, themselves, the children, Cody – there would be nothing left to lose.   
Somehow he managed to tear his eyes away from the child at the window, walk on as if there was nothing untoward. But his mind was spinning and he knew that there was no way that he was going to leave without Cody. No chance in hell. 

~::~

“Ted, what’s going on?”

“I’ve just seen the little boy, John… the one with the Daffy Duck glasses that you found? He’s in the front window of this house two streets behind me. No, don’t worry they can’t see me from here…” he was secure behind a high wall that led down to what seemed to be a blink parking-spot behind some of the other houses, but if he’d gone any further then he might have lost sight of the house and then it would have melted back into the dilapidated and downtrodden misery that seemed to have coated the outside of this entire housing development.

“What street are you on?”

Ted made a mildly impatient noise, “I don’t know, John!” it wasn’t as though they were sign-posted clearly and it wasn’t as though Ted had been so focused on keeping an eye out for signs considering he’d been too busy keeping an eye out for Melina.

John sighed but bit back the retort that surely Ted could use his eyes and read something nearby, “How far did you get?”

“It was about five minutes down the road,” eyes on the house in question and phone pressed to his ear as tightly as he allowed (god forbid he accidentally hang-up on John with his cheek or something) Ted frowned as he noticed that still no one seemed to be moving inside. “I have no idea how many people are inside, about four children if we’re going on the ones they’ve taken still being alive and well?” well, as well as they could be in the circumstances, “And those two…” he trailed off, “And now Cody.”

And they had no idea what condition Cody was in; the pair were unstable, and aside from potentially causing Cody some serious issues by subjecting him to whatever shit she’d had on the handkerchief they could have done anything else to him… Ted ground his teeth together so hard they made that peculiar squeaking sound and sent pain radiating up his cheek from his gums; if they so much as ruffled Cody’s hair Ted was going to pay back the Morrison wannabe tenfold. That was possibly the only occasion in his life where he had wished he could have an hour as a woman… then Melina would get what was coming to her without him coming off as some monstrous woman beater.

“Ted! TED!” the shrill shouting somewhere away from his ear made Ted realise he had lowered the phone somewhat and he was quick to replace it.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Look, I’m on my way now. Call Randy for me OK and let him know where you are.”

Ted frowned slightly, “What are you going to do?”

Silence.

“John?” he prompted.

“I’ll tell you when I’ve thought of it,” John said, and then ended the call.

Momentarily Ted scowled at his phone; John might be the cop but just because he had a gun didn’t mean he was going to come out on top in two against one, especially when the two comprised of one very unstable woman and a man who was stupidly, unnervingly devoted to her, two people whom they had no idea about really, and who, for all they knew, could have a small arsenal stashed inside of that house with those poor children.

Well, if John thought he could go in guns blazing, rescue the Lord in distress and then come waltzing out the hero he had another thing coming.

I’m coming, Cody… just hold on.

~::~

Between his legs felt like it was on fire, throbbing and aching, and not in a good way. Actually, it reminded him of the time when he and his sister had been larking around in the back garden and she had been demonstrating the high-kicks they had taught her at her cheerleading club at school… the two of them had well and truly misjudged just how close she had been standing to him that day. And, to make matters worse, his head felt muggy and heavy, as though he’d been under anaesthetic, or had at least consumed enough alcohol to make him pass out as though he’d been placed under.

“Ow…” he mumbled, gingerly opening his eyes Cody attempted to lift his head up.

Where was he?

The room was non-descript, almost too plain and too clean, like those unnerving show-houses that they often had on TV where the people supposedly using them were as mechanical as the appliances they were surrounded by. The carpet seemed old, smelled musty, and Cody grimaced as he considered how long it must have been since the carpet had gotten a good washing. Hang on a minute… if the place was dusty, that meant that they couldn’t have been here long. Which would make sense and all since they had been on the run, but still… either this room wasn’t used (and there seemed to be a makeshift pair of beds across from him so that couldn’t be true) or Melina was as poor a house-keeper as she was a mother.

Unsure what exactly compelled him to do so Cody started to rub his neck against the carpet, hoping fibres or something would transfer onto his clothing so that they could use it to pinpoint the fact he had been in the house… especially if something happened to him that would prevent him from testifying himself. An almost hysterical giggle bubbled up but he swallowed it down, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

At least Ted would be able to talk to him still.

Sadly, the thought didn’t comfort him much.

Dying hadn’t been on his agenda for a long time, and although he was sometimes pulled into quite dangerous situations he had never been as concerned for his wellbeing as he was in that moment.

The sound of footsteps outside of the door made him freeze, all but holding his breath, as though he was at home and playing hide-and-seek with his brother and sister, as though the people who had captured him wouldn’t know he was there. When the door opened however he was stunned to find himself looking at a young girl.

She looked as though she had stepped out of a picture from the Cowboy days, all lace and plain colours, her long hair separated into two severe braids of dark hair. She seemed pale, as though she hadn’t been outside for a long time, and she seemed much too thin; her clothing hung on her shoulders unnaturally, bone outlaying any kind of muscle or fat that would otherwise compromise her shape.

She looked sick, to be frank.

“D-Don’t be frightened,” Cody managed to croak, the irony of the fact that he was the one who had been drugged, tied up and possibly hit if the pain in his ribs and side was anything to go by, and was lying there attempting to reassure a child was not lost on him. The girl could have been brainwashed during her time in captivity, and she might be there to do something to him to avoid the bloodied hands of her ‘parents’ getting any dirtier…

Yeah, his head was definitely not on straight at the moment.

“I’m not afraid of you,” her voice was surprisingly deep for a girl’s, though not enough to make him have a juvenile thought that she sounded like a boy. It was more a husky, smoky tone that seemed rather obscene on a girl so young and not on some actress from the fifties smoking endless cigarettes through one of those long holder things, “You made them mad,” for the briefest of moments a smile twitched her lips before they pulled down again, afraid almost, to be caught out, “It’s quite funny… and it’s nice that we’re not the ones getting shouted at for once.”

“Glad I could help,” Cody muttered wanly, “Are you OK?”

She blinked slowly, “OK?”

“I know who you are,” he said lowly, urgently, unsure how long they had before they were interrupted and not wanting to get her in trouble at the same time, “I know you’re not supposed to here and that she took you. I’m working with people, the police, who are trying to get you home.”

Something flickered in the frighteningly dead eyes, “Police? Home?”

“That’s right,” Cody did his best to smile, the expression feeling painful and cheap, “So, if you can help me it’ll be really important, OK? Are you all alright?”

“I… I think so. I mean… We’re all still here.”

We’re all still here? Did that mean that she knew that Theresa and Dazzle had been there too? But… How could she have known if none of the other children had been taken in until after she had passed? And why would they talk about the deceased girl to the children? And why was he thinking about all of this now when he had other more pressing matters to attend to?

“Right, OK…” Cody thought desperately, “Look, if you can, could you maybe see outside the window? See if anyone’s coming?” the girl looked confused, and Cody struggled to elaborate, “There may be someone looking for me… handsome, blonde hair, or maybe another two who are tall and have dark hair? If they’re looking for me, if they could see you maybe you could just… sign to them? Just let them know you see them?”

“I can try.”

“But don’t do it if you think you’ll be hurt because of it,” Cody said hastily.

“I don’t think they could hurt me anymore than they have, any of us,” she said, and she looked much older than her age, turning and leaving him back in the room once more, door closing silently.

So that’s what lost innocence looks like.

~::~ 

“Which house is it?” Randy asked.

Ted indicated with a jerk of his head, “Several doors down, has a greying kind of door.”

“They all have greying kind of doors,” Randy mumbled.

“Not the time for being pedantic.”

“Shut up the pair of you,” John murmured, frowning softly to himself.

Randy turned to his lover, seeing the expression on his face, and mentally sighing; that meant John was working on something and there was a good chance that he was going to get shot or something equally stupidly heroic.

“John…”

“I’m gonna go in.”

“Are you fucking crazy?” Randy demanded, “You can’t go in there on your own! You don’t know what’s going on it there!”

Especially with what John had said Cody had said they were planning to do to make sure that no one came after them.

“He’s not going to be going in alone,” Ted said seriously.

“I’m gonna smash both of your fucking heads together,” Randy growled, staring between the pair of them, “I get that you’re worried but charging in there guns blazing like the OK Corral isn’t the way we’re supposed to be doing this!”

John looked back towards the house then and exhaled, “I could probably call for some back up…” only he had no idea how he was going to explain it. Ted was right when he said that no one would be able to explain he knowing what Cody had done to know and all that business… Why the hell did everything have to be so complicated?

Why couldn’t he just go barging in there?

Why couldn’t John just get back-up without explanations the way that people always did in the films?

“Ted--- where the fuck are you going?”

Ted turned, already heading towards the opposite side of the street, the side the house was on two streets back, “I’m going around the back. Do what you have to do--- but I’m gonna see if he’s in there.”

Randy made a lunge for Ted, but the man was surprisingly fast, vanishing out of sight moments later, “Fuck sake!”

“Now now, no need for that language.”

John almost gave an unmanly yelp, falling into Randy somewhat even as he wheeled around, hand going to his holster. Chris’ brows almost vanished into his hairline and Evan yelped slightly before holding his trademark backpack up before them as though he somehow believed it was going to shield them from the bullets likely to come from John’s gun at any moment.

“Put the gun down, John! It’s us!”

“I can see that,” John huffed, lowering the firearm but then eyeing the pair of them, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Chris rolled his eyes, obviously deeming the question stupid, but then he answered anyway, “Maybe because you went sprinting out of work as though the hounds of hell were on your tail, without anyone else and yet clearly off to tend to something important since no one in your department or the office had any idea where you’d gone so it wasn’t personal… consider it deductive reasoning to surmise it was work-related…” he then trailed off once more and cocked his head at Randy, “But you being here does make that theory a little shaky.”

“Where’s Ted and Cody?” Evan asked suddenly.

“Who’re they?” Chris asked, “Oh, the psychics,” he nodded.

John’s eyes widened as he looked to Evan, “You told Chris?”

Evan looked embarrassed and then a little defensive, “You said I couldn’t tell anyone in the department, but it’s not like I can’t trust Chris to keep quiet when I ask him to!”

“Don’t get mad at him Cena,” Chris said, tone making Randy bristle a little, “He was kinda concerned about what had happened when you found that creepy-ass angel and needed someone to talk to.”

“You’re taking psychics surprisingly well,” Randy said dryly to Chris who shrugged.

“So where are they?” Evan asked quietly.

John sighed and rubbed a hand over his face; they didn’t have time to stand there chatting but there were far too many variables for them to worry about this time around to just go charging in, even more true for certain thanks to Ted running off like he had.

“Cody was attacked by Melina, Ted was told,” John said, Evan going pale at his pointed look, “And we’ve been tracking her. Ted saw one of the missing kids in the window of a house and he’s gone to find a back way in and see what’s going on.”

“You let him go?” Chris demanded.

Randy squared up to him, “He didn’t let Ted do anything.”

“Guys, if you could leave the pissing contest until later, we have bigger things to worry about now.”


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Click-Boom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted manages to locate the missing children and Cody... But before they can even think of celebrating he's confront by Melina and John Morrison... And sees a member of the dead he wished to never see again.

Even though he had run off and probably would be called reckless by John later on, Ted wasn’t exactly keen on being noticed. After all, if anyone tried to harm Cody then it would take only seconds and he might not be able to be in the house that quickly even if he dropped all attempts at stealth. His plan was really to just see what he could, make sure that Cody was okay – he was trying to fight a state of low-grade terror that perhaps once Cody had gotten in the house it had been decided that he was better off out of the way. He needed to know that Cody was okay, otherwise he was going to go out of his mind. 

And if he knew where Cody was, they would be able to plan how to get him out much more easily. Maybe it was selfish when there were children in the house who were also in need of rescue but they were not the centre of Ted’s thoughts. Cody was. 

It wasn’t hard to get into the back yard – he simply cut through the empty house and into that yard, finding that a fence panel had fallen at some point and not replaced. The empty yard was rather sterile, concrete with empty bins in a corner and nothing else of note, not that Ted was paying much attention. The house where Cody was told another story – the garden had probably once been extremely pretty but had been left to run wild at some point and everything was overgrown, a riot of flowers, bushes, trees and weeds. Ted noticed dispassionately as he stepped into the garden that someone had started to clear up there, had taken care of some of the plants and begun to prune and weed. It merely put him in mind of the perfect grass back where they had found the angel that had killed Theresa. 

There hadn’t been the time to clear up too much though and the foliage helped to hide Ted from view of the windows. He ducked behind a hedge that had once separated a flower bed from the lawn beyond it and glanced at the windows. Upstairs he could see that all of the curtains were closed tightly, he didn’t expect anyone to see him from them and in any case, it was more likely that the children would be in the back rooms while the adults would be in the main room at the front. And he didn’t think it likely that the children would be in a rush to tell their kidnappers that there was a potential rescuer in the yard. 

The downstairs curtains were open and Ted tried to judge what the rooms overlooking the garden were – the house was large enough that it wasn’t a simple case of the most obvious rooms. He could tell the kitchen, which had no curtains at all and he could see the sink, but he didn’t think Cody could be in there and there was no sign of anyone else either. Another larger window had a bleached-white set of nets and he thought it might be a dining room but he was unsure whether such houses had rooms like that; he had been told once or twice (although when he was younger for the most part) that he tended to apply his own experiences to other people’s situations and he had grown up in a mansion with millionaires for parents, which wasn’t always good for working out the layout of smaller scale homes. And there was a chance that even if it was a dining room by intent it could be utilised for something else. As many children were there, perhaps one or more was sharing the room as a bedroom or maybe the parents slept there for security. Another window was much smaller and the net yellowing, suggesting that it was perhaps some kind of utility area...

The nets that were in the maybe-dining room twitched and Ted ducked before raising his head slowly over the shrubbery. For a strange moment he thought that somehow Theresa had followed him to the house, or maybe she could manifest in more than one place, then he realised that the girl looking out was a year or more younger, her face a different shape and her hair not quite the same shade. There were enough similarities thought to spook him and confirm to him, had he needed confirmation, that he was in just the right place. 

For a moment he just watched her, wondering what would happen if he revealed himself. Would she help him? Inadvertently alert others to his presence? Or perhaps do it deliberately, so entrenched in what her new parents were telling her that she’d do anything for approval? He didn’t dare to risk it. Any other time he would and to hell with the consequences, but with Cody at risk there was no way at all that he was going to stir up this hornets nest. 

He wanted to look for a back door or at least some way he could get into the house but the girl wasn’t going anywhere... in fact, she seemed to be searching for something. Ted ducked behind the bush again, hoping that if she saw any movement then she mistook it for some kind of bird. His ornithology was a little shaky but surely there was some kind of feathered beast he could be mistaken for... and now he was getting panicky. She was a kid and more than likely would think she was mistaken and get bored waiting for him to move again. 

He gave it a minute or two before he got too anxious to wait any longer himself and raised his head. The girl was still in the window – and was looking directly at him. Ted froze and stared at her, then raised his hand to put his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture. The girl looked at him without expression for a moment and then suddenly grinned, winking at him and then vanishing from the window.

Ted frowned, not knowing what her intention was but hoping that it wasn’t to go and let the adults know there was a stranger in the yard. And he wished he knew where Cody was...

A sound from nearby made him start, every nerve on high alert as he tried to work out where it had come from. Somewhere near the house, that was for certain but what was it? If it was Morrison or Melina then he would simply rush them but if it was the kid then he would have to try to persuade her he was the good guy. Which would be hard when he was creeping around the garden. 

Another sound, perhaps a creak? Ted kept bent over, trying to avoid the windows as he scurried toward the house and the sound. What the hell...?

He turned the corner of the house and saw the side, a small walkway that led to the elusive back door. Which was open. He frowned, unable to believe that if they were thinking of holing up that the door would have been left swinging the way it was. As he looked it moved again with the same slight creak he had heard. But surely he would have heard that before?

The girl. She had to have opened the door for him and then hurried away before she could be caught. Perhaps she had taken a chance that he was there to help her – or perhaps Cody had told her. 

Heartened and hopeful, he made his way silently to the door. 

He found himself inside the kitchen, looking around quickly. He vaguely noted that the place was surprisingly neat for a place with so many children apparently living in it, no sign of bright cereals or character glasses, no cheery fridge magnets holding inexpert drawings. There was only one door and Ted headed for it, realising that he had been wrong about one thing – there were drawings, pinned to a corkboard that was almost hidden by the kitchen door. He took a quick glance and frowned. With three brothers and a family-oriented mother he was well used to the typical pictures that children liked and particularly young boys (he still drew a wicked T-Rex). These were all of a family group and none of the children were smiling. He didn’t like the vibe he was getting from those pictures and he was glad to take his eyes off them and move into the hallway. 

He could hear someone talking upstairs, some kind of argument. A female voice that he was sure belonged to a grown woman said something, sounding upset and he stopped dead. She wasn’t there but was she with Cody?

“...a cop? He has to be, he was following me!”

A male voice and Ted’s eyes widened as he strained to hear. “If he’s a cop, he’s a dumb one babe. No backup...”

“He might have just spotted me and recognised me—“

“And if so, he’s off duty. We searched him, no badge!” The voice continued, the voice lowering so that Ted couldn’t hear any more but he didn’t need to. That wasn’t Cody. That didn’t mean that Cody wasn’t with them but he didn’t have to be and would they be having such a conversation in front of him? Ted didn’t think so. That meant he was somewhere else. 

The adults were upstairs but the children would be around somewhere and he hadn’t seen the girl since he had entered the house. He had to make sure no one was alerted to his presence. 

There were two doors leading off from the hallway, the stairs at the far end. On a whim he passed by the first door, where it seemed most probable the girl had been and then went into the one beyond, thinking it would most likely be empty—

He had been wrong. There, sitting on the floor with an apparently rather listless game of monopoly before them, were the missing children, including the girl he had seen. His eyes widened and he made the same shushing gesture as he had before. The girl nodded at him, looking at the other children sternly. She seemed to be the oldest of them at a casual glance – Ted wasn’t exactly very knowledgeable about guessing children’s ages – and Ted suspected that she was the second missing child, the one who had vanished after Dazzle. The same one Cody said had been writing in the bottom of the wardrobe. 

The children looked rather scared and wide-eyed to see him, all except for the first girl who opened her mouth to say something only to be interrupted by the little boy whose glasses they had found.. “Theresa—“

Ted whipped his head around to look at the girl. “That’s not your real name, is it?”

The girl shook her head. “And I’m not the first either,” she mumbled. “Your friend’s next door, downstairs bedroom.”

So he had been right, to an extent. Ted was itching to go in and grab Cody but hesitated a moment. Saving Cody was important but so were these children. He was almost certain that he wouldn’t be able to simply take Cody from here without any consequence at all. 

Instinct, he thought to himself. The dead had always guided him but too often they had used his instinct, telling him where he needed to go, where he should be to see them. He would have to stop thinking through every possibility and go with what seemed like a good idea. He didn’t exactly have the time to do anything else. 

“They’ll probably come down here soon and go into the dining room,” he said in a low voice. “You should wait ‘til you hear us talking and then leave through the front door. All of you, as quick as you can. There’s police waiting out there and they can take you home...”

“Home?” The little boy stared myopically at him, looking amazed. 

“Hush,” said the girl absently, not taking her eyes off Ted. “If they see us, they’ll hurt us. We’re not supposed to try to leave, not ever.”

“I’ll be there to distract them, we will,” Ted replied, keeping his voice low. “We can stop them going after you but be as quiet as you can and they’ll be too worried about us to think of you. There are police outside and they know you’re here. They’ll help you out and then come back for us.”

“How long?” asked the girl. 

“Shouldn’t be long,” said Ted, half to himself. “They’ll not want to leave him too long after he wakes. I need to go to him but remember what I said. Hurry, be quiet. And be careful. Tell the police that we’re here.”

He slipped from the living room, his mind finally making the connections of what had been wrong with the room. No television, no music system of any kind. There had been a sparse bookshelf that didn’t look to be interesting and the children had been playing a board game in almost silence, with none of the bickering and silliness that Ted remembered from his own youth. The quiet and the acceptance had been creepy and he couldn’t get them all out of there soon enough. 

He heard voices upstairs still but muted, argument over. He didn’t have much time. He found the other door and opened it, eyes sweeping the room. A couple of makeshift beds were against the wall, not looking particularly comfortable or the kind of place one might willingly go for rest, the room clean but the walls dirty and the carpet faded and musty. It took Ted only moments to see everything and then it faded into insignificance. 

Cody was lying on the floor. 

The younger man’s head turned as Ted walked into the room and the blonde could see the smile starting across Cody’s face before he all but leapt across the room, dropping to his knees and resting his hand on Cody’s face. “Oh shit I thought you’d died or something, I was scared! Are you hurt?”

“Not hurt,” said Cody, not entirely truthfully but he could move and it would do. “I’m tied up—“

“I’m on it.” Ted moved behind Cody who rolled slightly so Ted could get to his hands. Ted examined the bonds for a moment, noting that it seemed to be clothesline that had been used, impossible to snap and hard to even unfasten. He wished he had grabbed a knife in the kitchen, as something to break the ropes with but also as a weapon; the knots had tightened with Cody’s struggles and were going to be tricky. He needed for Cody to be untied in a hurry. 

Going to work on the bonds, it seemed to take far too long for him to get Cody freed but he managed it, loosening the knots enough for them to slide over Cody’s hands and off. Before either of them made an attempt on unfastening Cody’s ankles Cody sat up, throwing his arms around Ted’s neck and kissing him soundly. 

“I knew you’d find a way to come for me,” he said when he came up for air. “I don’t know how but I’m damned glad you did.”

“Dead drunk in the alley you were in,” replied Ted with a smile. “Oh, you have no idea how good it is to see you. I can’t wait to get you out of here, so I can call you reckless and brave and stupid in peace!”

“Then let’s move.” Cody bent to undo his ankles, much more quickly than Ted had managed much to the blonde’s chagrin. “We need to get out of here before they come back here—” 

“No.”

Cody stared at him, puzzled. “What do you mean, no? They must be around somewhere!”

“Upstairs,” returned Ted, his eyes going to the door for a moment and then back to Cody. “And yeah, we don’t have much time. But the kids are here. I don’t think we can get them out and us out as well before they come down here, We’re already pushing our luck. If we go out the front door with them, they’ll hear the door open up there and come down. And they might be armed. Our best bet is to stay where we are.”

“You can’t be serious—“

“They’ll be concerned with us and the kids have their orders to get the hell out while we keep them busy. John and Randy are out there and we can hold our own for a while to give them the chance to get out. We’ve got a better chance alone than sneaking them out too. We just need to be the diversion.”

Cody bit his lip as he thought about it, then smiled. “You’re a bit of a hero secretly, aren’t you Ted?”

“Nah. I’m thinking about all our best chances. And they took my boyfriend. I don’t want there to be any children around to see what I do to them.”

“Boyfriend?” Cody grinned. “Is that what I am now?”

“Well, uh, I did kinda – well, I assumed, but uh...”

Cody interrupted him with a kiss. “I’m honoured,” he said quietly, the smile on his face one of pure happiness that was out of place given the situation. The men exchanged loving looks and then Ted stood up, reaching out a hand so that Cody could pull himself up too. On his feet, Cody gave a little groan, trying to stop himself when he saw Ted’s concern. “Feet have gone to sleep,” he explained with a slight laugh. “Been tied up too long…”

“Why the fuck aren’t you tied up now?”

Both men turned in a hurry to look at the door. The man, Morrison, was standing there with a shotgun in hand, pointed at a half-way point between them and the floor. Behind him, Melina was peering over her shoulder, dark eyes filled with fury. Neither of them could tell if she was armed too but it seemed likely. 

Ted smiled at them, heart pounding, hoping that he was doing the right thing. “You’re just in time. Join the party.”

~::~

‘Theresa’ looked in the direction of the room the nice man and his friend were, hearing ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ clearly. They didn’t have much time.

Standing up she pressed a finger to her lips and then reached, taking the hand of the boy with glasses who clutched on tightly. His hand was sweaty, or maybe it was hers, and hadn’t the situation been so serious she would probably have shrugged him off with a declaration of how gross that was. As it was she then motioned for the other children to take his hand, clinging to one another eventually like some big train, or giant centipede.

“Everyone,” she whispered, “Stay quiet and don’t lag.”

Several mumbles and hastily hushed whimpers met her words, the shivers of fear becoming so potent the vibration of terror was being passed down the line from child to child, meeting ‘Theresa’ at the head; but she was careful not to admit the fact that she was only adding to it in her own right. If they didn’t get out now then it was likely they were never going to get another chance to, and if they didn’t get out then they weren’t going to be the only ones in danger anymore were they? Steeling her resolve she started to lead the younger children down away from the room, their board-game left behind without a second glance.

She never wanted to see another Monopoly board again.

‘Thud!’

The muffled sound from overhead made the children freeze like an extended statue, terrified, wide-eyes staring this way and that way, attempting to determine whether one of them had made the noise or whether it was coming from their ‘parents’ and the nice men…

No one was coming.

The house wasn’t very big, not like the last one, but ‘Theresa’ felt like it took her much too long to finally reach the backdoor. She and the others had been allowed brief playtime in the garden since they had been moved to this horrible house but that was only when ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ were there to watch them. It wasn’t like they could run far, but she had figured out that that was what they were worried about.

Don’t run.

You won’t be going anywhere ever again.

Don’t speak.

Good children are seen not heard.

Don’t think, don’t remember.

You belong to us now.

Her chest hurt, breathing seemed to be becoming harder and more painful as they all but ran across the garden, the veritable waste-land space seeming bigger than the playground she used to spend most of her day on back when she had been at school, at home. She had never thought she’d ever miss school, but she’d trade all of the money in her piggybank that she’d been carefully saving even to go back to a maths lesson.

A sudden rustling as they got into the undergrowth made the children freeze, the youngest boy tripping up.

Immediately one of the older children clapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from crying out even as they all huddled together, scared somehow that mum and dad had found them even though there was no way that they could have made it outside before them and without them noticing… not unless they could teleport or something.

“Sh!” a sweet looking man with dark hair held his hands up, expression earnest, “Please, I’m not here to hurt you!”

Theresa eyed him suspiciously, and then started when some more men came out of the trees.

“Th—”

“Are you the policeman?” she asked, more bravely than she felt, but with a firm stance that said if any of the men wanted to do anything bad to the kids they would have to go through her first.

A man with short brown hair and very wide shoulders looked shocked, “How did you know policemen were coming?”

“Your friend—“her unease started to show them as she drew the children closer, deeper into the foliage and hopefully obscuring themselves from the house should anyone be looking out of the window, “—the one inside, looking for the other friend. He told us we should get out of the house. He went looking for the dark haired man but then they—mum and dad,” her mouth pinched even as she said it, correcting herself it seemed without even thinking about it, “they found them. And we don’t know what’s going on now.”

“How do we know they’s really plees-men?” whispered a little blonde girl who looked no more than five, clutching the hand of a little boy of equal age.

John and Chris both reached into their pockets, pulling out their badges.

“Whoa,” the children breathed as one.

“Can I has it?” one of the other boys asked, pointing at Chris’ badge.

Chris offered a brief smile in return, “Maybe later,” he then looked to John, “How do you want us to handle this?” after all they were the only two with arms, but numbers would undoubtedly work better for them.

“Did you come in a squad car?”

“No, my car,” Evan inputted.

“Right…” John frowned, thinking quickly, “Randy, Evan, can you take the kids onto the street? Keep them well away from this side. Evan, can you call the station and let them know that we’ve recovered the children but there are still two vulnerable targets inside? Suspects considered armed and dangerous, back-up needed as soon as possible.”

“You can’t seriously be thinking of going in there?” Randy demanded of John.

“It doesn’t look like we have much choice; they could be doing anything to Cody and Ted—“John reached out and squeezed Randy’s hand firmly, “I need these kids out of here and safe Randy, and I promise I’ll go in there and get our kids out safe.”

Randy still looked as though he was seriously debating the idea before Theresa reached out and grasped his hand. Randy blinked, startled, looking down at the hand that looked obscenely pale, tiny and frail compared to his own. Evan moved to the back and picked up the two smallest children, they clinging to him as though he was their lifeline.

“We’ll take care of them,” Evan promised.

“Right,” Randy muttered, still looking a little out of it.

Pulling his gun from his pocket John cocked it and then looked at Chris, “Let’s go.”

As they began a stealthy move towards the house Randy and Evan hastily shepherded the children back to where their cars sat, squeezing all of the children inside one vehicle since they seemed frightened by the prospect of separation even though they were there.

Whilst Randy worked on placating the sudden tears that had started from many of them (undoubtedly in response to the fear of their current situation as well as everything else they had been through) Evan put through his fastest call to the station in his life.

~::~ 

“Who the fuck are you?”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

The shot-gun clicked sickeningly loudly and Ted reached for Cody’s hand immediately, “Do not fuck me around copper.”

“Cops?” Ted blinked with exaggerated innocence, “We’re not cops.”

“Liars!” Melina spat.

“We’re not lying!” Cody shot back.

“Why were you following me then, huh?” she demanded, tossing her hair and puffing herself up in a manner that made her look more sixteen years of age than thirty-six years of age which was more likely. Though since he was pretty sure she was holding a weapon that could do some damage to him given her stance Ted wasn’t about to actually come out and ask her if the age that was affixed to her profile was right.

“I—”

“Only cops follow people,” she sneered, “Cops or creeps… and somehow you don’t strike me as wanting a go with me.”

“No offence,” Cody said mildly, squeezing Ted’s hand who returned the action, “You’re not my type.”

Morrison looked a little disturbed for a moment and Ted thought he was lucky that he still had that shot-gun between them otherwise he would have been in for an ass-kicking for being homophobic alone.

“Who’re you?”

“He’s my boyfriend!” Ted said tartly, “You kidnapped him and I came to get him.”

“So you just happened to see me and decided to follow me?” she addressed Cody once more, Melina apparently unable to let that little matter of fact go, Ted and Cody exchanging a slight look before the dark haired woman then added, “Hang on a minute, how could you know where he was?” he hadn’t been on the phone when Melina had taken him down, and when she’d checked his calls and texts upon them securing him in the bedroom his last calls and texts had been recently, but whilst he was unconscious still, so again it wasn’t as though he should have been able to provide an address.

“I thought I recognised you from TV,” Cody lied hastily, thinking that if he was going to die he hoped they’d shoot him before Ted; he couldn’t bear the thought of watching Ted die.

Clearly Melina looked as though she didn’t know whether she should be pleased with that or not, “Where on TV?”

Ted mentally wondered if he should input, but realised in that moment he had no idea what to say.

“Some reality show… didn’t you win something?” had it not been for the beads of sweat growing along Cody’s brow Ted would have thought that he was well and truly in control of his fear. In truth his own hands were so cold and clammy that he had no idea whether his palms were sweaty or if they were Cody’s. Either way he supposed it didn’t matter, and he certainly had no intention of letting go.

Shockingly though, Melina suddenly started to preen a little, “I was on TV once.”

“Oh, I was right then!”

Morrison didn’t look in the slightest bit convinced, the gun unwavering although the stance he held the gun with suggested that he wasn’t especially used to carry a firearm like that. Now, this wasn’t altogether surprising; as one of three sons Ted had been on regular camping/hunting trips with his family before his gift had made it a terrifying experience to go out into the woods and the wilderness because he didn’t know what he’d come across, and Ted knew full well that shotguns were much heavier and cumbersome than people thought they were.

The first time he’d fired one he’d gotten a bruised shoulder and had almost been blown back off his own feet.

“This is bullshit!”

Cody started suddenly at the man’s input, swallowing as he found himself suddenly looking directly down the barrel.

“I’m not!”

“Then why would he come after you if you just wanted an autograph?” he toted the gun, “You think we were born yesterday?”

“Why would you attack someone?” Ted added on, trying to do his best to keep playing along with the ruse Cody had started since Melina seemed quite struck by her own past attributes and accomplishments then to apparently think through their story in any depth, “Bit paranoid don’t you think?”

“I’ll tell you where you’ve seen us on TV before—“the gun made a sickening smacking sound against Ted’s face as the brunette male suddenly leapt forward, Ted letting go of Cody’s hand as he dropped to his knees and instinctively cradled his face.

“Teddy!”

“On their most fucking wanted list!” Morrison screamed, gun back on Cody who froze partway through bending down to aid Ted who still hadn’t looked up, but was making quiet sounds of pain.

Maybe they had shattered his jaw? Broken his nose? Cody hadn’t seen exactly where Ted had been hit but it didn’t look good.

“Morrison! Morrison!” came the sudden shout from outside of the hallway down the stairs, Cody’s eyes widening with hopeful recognition as John’s voice filled the air, “Put your weapons down and surrender peacefully. This is the police and we have the children!” Ted made another quiet sound although this time there was definite relief mixed in with the pain, “We have the house surrounded! Do not do anything that would make this worse on yourselves! Surrender yourselves and release the hostages!”

A wild shriek suddenly rent the air, Cody quailing in and actually clutching his hands over his ears; Melina looked incensed, curled hair wild and her dark eyes bulging so badly they looked as though they might pop out of her head like they would do in the old cartoons.

“My children!”

Before anyone could react she had all but ripped the shotgun out of Morrison’s hands and directed it shakily at Cody, screaming, “This is all your fault!”

‘B-Boom!’

“Nooo!” screamed Ted as the shotgun hit the floor, Cody’s body crumpling to the ground seconds later as all pandemonium broke loose once John and Chris hit the landing, Melina being dragged backwards by Morrison who was brandishing some kind of hunting knife that Melina had been holding before she had grabbed the gun.

“Cody!”

~::~

It all happened fast and while John was used to how these things went, he certainly wasn’t used to the people he cared about being caught up in it. Least of all the two men that he and Randy had come to jokingly refer to as ‘their kids’. It didn’t seem like such a joke anymore.

He saw Morrison exiting a room, a woman in his arms and a knife to her throat. He wanted to sit them both down and ask, was this really the way to behave? When they were supposed to be in love, they were supposed to protect each other. Not use the other for protection. 

“I have a hostage!” Morrison’s voice was high and panicked. “I’ll kill her if you don’t let us go! And I have, I have demands! You need to—“

“She killed two children Morrison, do you think I give a crap if she dies?” John didn’t mean to say it, it was against everything they learned about hostage situations but it was from the heart. The woman had problems and he was sorry for her, but her problems didn’t mean shit against the life of a child and the family that had loved her, what she might have been. 

Morrison looked over at him, his eyes growing wide, then shoved Melina back toward the room they had come from and made a break for it. 

Chris sprung into action, all but barging past John and tackling Morrison as if they were playing rugby. He got the man around the knees, causing Morrison to hit the ground hard, the knife flying from his hands. Chris crawled upward, sitting on Morrison’s ankles before he could turn over and dragging his handcuffs from his belt at the same time. John had the totally novel experience of being grateful to Jericho but it lasted barely a second as he went to Melina. 

She wasn’t even trying to put up a fight, her eyes covered with her hands as she sobbed. “My children—“

“Ma’am—“

John cut himself off as he heard the cry in the room. “Cody!”

Oh no. No, no, this couldn’t be.

“You’re under arrest,” he said coldly, reaching for his own cuffs.

Melina moved fast, turning and clawing at his eyes. John moved his hands to protect himself and managed to stop the woman doing some real damage to his face, the wild thought that Randy wouldn’t like that flitting through his mind. She was light but furious and John had a real problem trying to restrain her without her harming him. In the end he grabbed both her wrists and shoved her backwards, hard. She tripped and stumbled, momentum taking her all the way into the room she had emerged from before she fell backward across the floor.

John followed, straddling her before she could get back to her feet and cause more damage. “I said you’re under arrest—“

“Cody...”

John’s voice died away as he heard Ted speak and turned his head to the scene that Melina had been trying to escape. Ted knelt in front of Cody, who was lying on the floor – and there was blood, too much blood. He could hear the sob in Ted’s voice. 

And then Ted looked up.

John barely felt the way Melina’s struggles beneath him ceased. They were both too busy looking at Ted, who seemed not to even realise there was anything going on around him. 

“Oh no.” 

Ted’s back was to John but he could sense the steel in the blonde’s tone. 

“Cody Garrett Rhodes, you get back in that body now. You do not do this to me. You are not dead. You, you have to live because you’re too precious to be taken this soon...”

Ted leaned his head down, but John had the feeling that his eyes were still on some sight that he did not see. 

“This...”

Ted leaned up, breathed in deeply before expelling every ounce of feeling, every sense of injustice that he’d ever had into his words. 

“This isn’t fair!”

John jumped and Melina shuddered but made no move to escape.

“This, this is shit! I did everything! I chased all over the country, I brought right to people I never knew and I didn’t have to, I shouldn’t have to! I didn’t ask for anything and then I find the most wonderful man, the best man who liked me! And he did so much good and never asked for a thing either and you’d take him? You’d really do this? I don’t know if you’re God or Karma or what the fuck ever but you don’t take Cody from me! Cody has done so much good and if you take him, I swear...”

Ted let out a sob. “I’ll never help another dead person again. And Cody, he does better than me! He helps the living, the people who it actually matters to! You don’t take him! You leave him...”

John stared at the scene, spellbound, until Ted looked up at that same place again. “Cody? Cody, where did you go?”

Melina suddenly tried to buck him and John forced emotion from his mind, tried to force it onto the job. Later there would be time for recriminations... if he got five minutes alone with Morrison, he could take out every inch of his anger about Cody. 

“You’re under arrest!” he yelled into Melina’s face, grabbing for his handcuffs and this time getting them. Melina growled, her eyes filled with hate and clawed at him again. John knew he couldn’t turn or restrain her in this state and yet he would never confess the amount of pleasure it gave him to whip out his mace and spray it in her face. 

Melina screamed, writhing under the pain and it took him only seconds to turn her onto her stomach and cuff her hands behind her back. He then promptly lost interest and approached Ted, slowly, as if he expected some kind of shock just by touching the other. 

It didn’t seem to matter how stealthily he approached. As soon as he was at Ted’s shoulder, Ted turned his head to look at John through tear-stained eyes. “Cody—“

John knelt beside Ted and put his fingers to Cody’s neck. 

“He’s dead,” said Ted dully, turning back to look at Cody. “I saw him standing—“

“I’ve got a pulse.” 

John couldn’t believe he was saying it and it was a weak, weak pulse. But it was there and for the moment, Cody lived. 

Ted looked at him as if he had taken leave of his senses and John rose, hoping that the commotion had called someone out already. Probably not. It hadn’t been long enough. Instead he pulled out his phone and dialled the boss. It was always a lot quicker than calling the usual channels. 

“I need an ambulance. Male, mid-twenties, shot. He can be saved, but you have to be fast.”

Ted managed to tear his attention from Cody to turn it to John. “You – you can’t be – he’s…”

“Ted.” John rested his hand on Ted’s shoulder. “Let’s hope.”


	21. Chapter Twenty: Can't Let Go Twice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children are recovered safely and the race is on to save Cody's life.

Randy had no idea if the scene of a crime usually became a circus as fast as this one did, he didn’t exactly have a frame of reference. But it seemed like only a minute or two from the children coming out to an ambulance screaming up the street, sirens wailing. A couple of paramedics emerged, running into the house right away. Randy made a move to follow them but the hand in his tightened to the verge of panic and Evan reached out to grab his arm. “Don’t get in their way,” he said, so calmly that Randy wondered how he could be so serene. Of course, it wasn’t likely that his lover was injured in there, while Randy had his man and their kids still left behind. But Evan made a good point and with those words and the children suddenly choosing to speak up in one loud clamour against the action, Randy remained where he was. 

The paramedics were still inside when the first of the cop cars pulled up and the neighbours started to drift into the street, toward the disturbance. More police arrived, a couple of unmarked cars and while a cordon was set up around the house, a woman from one of the cars headed their way. 

“I’m the police social worker,” she said briskly, then turned a smile on the children. “Hi! I’ve arranged for some people to come and take you to the police station. We’re just calling your parents and guardians to ask them to pick you up—“

The children shuffled slightly closer to Evan and Randy, staring at the woman, whose smile seemed to slip a notch at being greeted with silence rather than cheers. Randy shot an anxious glance at the house – he didn’t want to leave the kids if they were scared but he had his own family to think about and a worm of fear was starting to eat at his guts whenever he thought about it. He needed to get out of here but that meant ensuring the children were safe before he did so. 

He knelt down on one knee so he was at eye level with them. “Hey, this lady’ll have you back at the police station – a ride in a police car, who doesn’t want that? And you’ll get to see your families. Your real families. And you’ll be far away from this house and them just as soon as the car arrives.”

“And not coming back here?” asked one of the little boys. 

“Never,” said Randy firmly. “I bet you’ll be glad to see the back of this place, huh?”

“Yeah.” The boy smiled, the first genuine smile Randy had seen from any of them since they had walked out, and turned to look at the house. Police were milling around and yet John still hadn’t come out... Randy was interrupted from his musings when the boy stuck his tongue out and raspberried the general direction of the house.

“We’re leaving!” shouted another girl with a laugh. 

“Yeah.” The oldest girl took a step forward and used both hands to flip off the house. “FUCK YOU MELINA! FUCK YOU MORRISON!”

Randy and Evan shared startled looks, neither one of them expecting that kind of language from a girl that age, but they didn’t have much time to comment before the children were hustled toward the street as a group. Another couple of ambulances had pulled up, more sedately than the first, and the kids were ushered over to them. The little boy turned his head and Randy saw him smile just before the people around him swallowed him from sight. 

He looked back at Evan. “Why is—“

There was a flurry of activity from the door of the house and the paramedics emerged, pushing a stretcher with someone on it. Behind them Randy finally noticed Ted, pale and grim and not even seeing Randy standing out in the open – although he wouldn’t be the first, they had been all but ignored by the police except for them getting the children. Seeing Ted was more of a relief than Randy would have realised but that stretcher... he didn’t like that at all. And Ted, even from this distance, was showing signs of blood and bruising on his face, red trails beneath his nose and darkening shadows on his cheek and jaw. He started toward the scene, stride lengthening when he saw John coming out of the house behind Ted, also looking pretty sick and with a smear of something that might have been blood just above his brow, as if he’d had it on his hand and then wiped his head. 

John turned, saw him coming and intercepted him before he could get to Ted. “Stop,” he said authoritatively, putting both hands on Randy’s chest when it looked like Randy was simply going to keep going to get to Ted – the blonde wore his dread as openly as any other emotion. “Randy! I need to speak to you!”

“Who’s on the stretcher?”

John hesitated. “Cody.”

“Is he…?”

“It doesn’t look good.” John’s mouth pressed into a thin line for a moment. “Look, Ted’s riding in the ambulance with him, they won’t let both of you if they have to work on him. But I need you to follow him in the car, okay? He won’t be allowed in when they operate—“

“Operate?”

“It’s pretty bad.” John went quiet again but it didn’t last. “He’ll need someone there to stop him going mad and I’m tied up here. I think I’ve got a whole lot of explaining to do and no idea what I’m gonna say.”

“What happened?”

“He’s been shot.”

“And they’re still in the house?”

John leaned back a little so he could look into Randy’s eyes. “They’re in the house, under police guard, handcuffed. They’re going nowhere and they’re gonna get all that’s coming to them. I need you to look after Ted because I can’t guarantee a happy ending.”

Randy frowned. “You mean it? It’s that bad?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. But something Ted said, and the paramedics – just follow him and keep me updated.”

“I will.” Uncaring that they were in the middle of a crime scene, Randy leaned in to steal a kiss. “Love you,” he said, suddenly needing to get to Ted. He knew exactly what his friend was going through, waiting for news, not knowing how bad it was and if he would ever see the face of the person he loved again. John was right; Ted needed him and Cody’s attackers would get all that was coming to them. 

“Take care John,” said Randy, already taking out his car keys and making off, ready to follow the ambulance to hospital and make some attempt to keep Ted calm. John watched him, sending some hope after him that he’d be okay with Ted and that Cody would make it and then turned his attention to Evan. 

“How’re the kids?”

“Social worker took ‘em,” said Evan sombrely. “Cody – he’s shot?”

“We didn’t get in there fast enough.” John sighed. “But if it wasn’t for Ted and Cody and their distraction, the kids would still be in there and we might be looking at something worse. I’m gonna need you to stay on. I don’t know how it’ll work with you lab boys, since I know you’re usually in your office with someone else here, but if you go back I still need you to be working on whatever they bring back to you for analysis.”

“I will, but why is it such a rush job?” Evan looked over to the house, noting the activity. “We got them. It’s all done with.”

“Because it’s not done with.” John shoved his hands in his pockets, looking down. “Those kids are safe but – well, I know you don’t think Ted’s really psychic but the girl at the other house wasn’t the only one of their victims he spoke to. We’re two children short. I want to put their parents out of their suffering and find what they did with those kids. And anything you can find would help us.”

Evan nodded, understanding. “I’ll spearhead forensics and crime scene and make it happen. We’ll find them and at least lay them to rest.”

“Yeah.” John’s gaze went into the mid-distance. “I’m told they spoke to me and I tried at least to speak to one of them. I feel like I owe them and their families. It won’t be over until we know where they are. And until Cody’s safe as well.”

~::~

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Ted was ashen faced as he paced up and down outside of the operating theatre. It had been as far as he was allowed to go according to the staff (and in that moment in time Ted really had no idea, or indeed the inclination to get in their way if that was true) and so he’d taken up refuge between there and the coffee-machine, a never-ending pacing that he was sure had worn a path in the sterile laminate floor.

“Are you OK sir?” a concerned young orderly asked him, glancing towards the theatre, “Can I get you another coffee?”

“Um… no, no thanks, I don’t think I should…” anymore caffeine and he was going to be even more jittery and sick feeling than he was in that moment in time. “But thanks again…” he added, worried about appearing unpolite.

“No problem,” the orderly smiled, Heath emblazoned across his name-tag, “If there’s anything you need let me know.”

Ted managed a brief smile, “That’s kind of you, thanks…” he glanced back at the doors once more. Although no one was telling him anything he supposed he was only lucky because Cody hadn’t appeared before him the way he had back in the bedroom of that house. His stomach dropped at the thought; he’d seen a lot of things in his time, but nothing had terrified him as much as seeing Cody, slightly more transparent than he was used to, hovering several inches off of the ground, staring at his own hands momentarily as he seemed to be struggling to comprehend what had happened to him.

Clearing his throat softly Ted then asked, “Um, Heath?” the very-pale-skinned man turned back towards him from where he’d been glancing over some kind of clipboard, “Sir?” Ted shook his head slightly, “Ted, please… Um, I was just wondering, is there any possible way you could find out what’s happening in there?”

Heath looked apologetic, “I’m afraid not… if the docs in OR ain’t coming out there’s no one else going in.”

“I knew that,” Ted mumbled, slumping into his chair, “Thanks anyway.”

“Hey, don’t worry though OK?” Heath said, lowering his voice and leaning down towards Ted, “Dr Barrett has the best record of any surgeon this hospital has ever staffed since back in the early days when it was even built.”

Ted smiled weakly, “I hope you’re right.”

“He’s a miracle worker,” Heath tapped his side gingerly and then tapped his nose conspiratorially, “He certainly saved me back when everyone else had written me off.”

As the young orderly started away from him Ted stared after him, wondering for a slightly unnerving moment if he was perhaps seeing a ghost even despite what Heath had just told him… but then someone else stopped him for a conversation and Ted felt like he could relax. Well, relax in regards to that matter anyway; dead people were so damned miserable when they died in hospital.

~::~

“I want this entire placed searched from top to bottom!”

“It’s really a turn on to see you so take-charge you know.”

Evan almost tripped over his own feet when Chris’ voice sounded in his ear, unsure whether to blush or reprimand the other for his lousy timing when he realised from the tense expression on Chris’ face that the other had been making the light joke for both of their benefits to try and ease off the tension of the moment. Admittedly he’d failed rather dismally for the main part but that didn’t matter. “I thought you would have left when John did,” the techie admitted and Chris shook his head somewhat before explaining, “You need someone here keeping an eye on things just in case… and well, if I can lend a hand to you that’s fine too,” Chris smiled.

Evan blinked a little, uncomfortably aware that his technicians were surrounding them both as they combed over every inch of the recent home where the children had been kept, but still unable to keep himself from asking, “Chris… are you worried about me?”

The blonde man tensed slightly, defensive looking but also a little embarrassed, “So what if I am?” he mumbled.

Evan smiled softly, clearing his throat lightly, “Um… I feel safer that you’re here you know,” and he wasn’t lying; after seeing Cody being wheeled off by a stretcher covered in blood, and Ted also covered in his lover’s blood where he’d obviously been holding him, “Even though they’re gone now…” Ok, that was a little pathetic to admit, but the little smile that Chris sent him before sobering his expression again made it entirely worthwhile.

“How much more do you need to look over?”

“They’ve covered the upstairs already I think,” despite the amount of children that had been in the house they had already reported to him that they hadn’t found much of anything; some hair and fibre samples but the place was almost unnervingly clean--- the kind of clean that had been in the first house, Evan had reflected with a cold feeling running down his spine, “So it’s just these rooms down here.”

“OK…” Chris nodded, expression drawn momentarily.

“Um, Chris…” Evan indicated the radio that was attached to the front of the man’s shirt, “Have you heard anything back from John and the others yet?”

Shaking his head the Canadian sighed, “No… All I know is they managed to get him to the hospital and I can only assume he was alive because no one has declared it a DUI,” and since they had 2 deaths on their hands Morrison and Melina had better pray to whatever deity they believed in that the man pulled through. Chris supposed it was just unfortunate that they didn’t still have the death penalty within the state… because after everything those two had done they would be the prime candidates for it.

“That’s a good sign right?”

“Well, it could be worse.”

~::~

“Ted?”

“Randy…”

The blonde found himself folding into his friend’s arms when he placed them around him, patting him on the back lightly.

“What happened man?”

“I dunno Rand…” Ted swallowed thickly and scrubbed his hands over his face, “But Cody… Cody died.”

“He did what? When—”

“Back at the house,” that made Randy relax a little, but not by much, “He died Randy. I could see him… And he was in my arms but then he wasn’t inside of himself and… I don’t even know how to explain it,” besides, Randy knew the form how it usually worked so it wasn’t as though he needed much of an explanation was it?

“But he’s back?”

“He was,” Ted whispered, “Whether he still is I have no idea.”

“Has no one been to see you yet?” Randy asked irritably.

“One person has, but he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“What good is that?” Randy muttered.

“Lay off man,” Ted mumbled, pulling back from the other, head going into his hands, “He tried to be as helpful as he could. Apparently the surgeon’s really good.”

Tilting his head Randy asked, “He knows who it is?”

“Some guy… Bartley? No that wasn’t it… Bentley?”

“Barrett.”

“Huh? Yeah--- how did you know that?”

Sighing, Randy slumped back in his chair, looking as always rather obscene considering he was so tall and lanky, arms and legs taking up more space than he ever intended to be, “That’s the guy who patched John up when he got shot the last time. I don’t think he’s been in the area all that long but apparently he’s pretty damned gifted.”

“That’s good right? There’s a chance.”

“Of course there’s a chance,” Randy said bracingly, both to comfort his friend and himself; he had become strangely attached to Cody in no time at all, though of course it helped that he had such an effect on Ted that he’d never seen before and he wanted to keep going for as long as he possibly could.

“He can’t die on me… not now.”

“He’s not gonna--- if he’s already come back, why would he just let go?”

“I don’t know…” Ted wrapped his arms around his middle and started pacing up and down, “Maybe this is God’s way of punishing me?”

“And I bet you know I’m gonna call bullshit right now don’t you?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me… you always had a strange way of looking at religion and God.”

“Exactly… so why are you taking that approach now? You see and talk to dead people—”

“Say it a little louder why don’t you? I’m sure the woman in a coma on floor eighteen didn’t quite hear you.”

“Don’t get bitchy, I’m just saying; if anyone deserves some good things to happen it’s you. Cody is a tough guy, he goes through the same things you’ve gone through… I think you just need to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“If he dies I’ll never forgive him.”

“Amen to that,” Randy muttered suddenly darkly.

“I thought you didn’t credit religion?”

“I don’t, but the word just fits.”

Looking at his friend, the operating theatre and then back again he asked, “How do you cope whenever you go through this with John?”

“I dunno… usually it involves more shouting and swearing if I remember rightly so the fact that you’re not being threatened with removal for verbally kicking the staff’s asses is a positive sign.”

“Thanks.”

Footsteps approaching quickly made both men look up, John appearing, now free of the blood smear that had been on his head but still a little dirty and mussed up. When a security guard approached him he merely flashed his badge and the man saluted and backed off. They never failed to amuse Randy when they did that; they literally had next to no power, had to rely on the cops just as much as everyone else, and yet they swanned around with their walkie-talkies and their doughnut bellies as though they owned the place.

“John?”

“Sorry, I came as fast as I could…” John bent over a moment, taking a few breaths and then straightened up, “Any news?”

“No—” Randy and Ted started in unison before the surgery doors suddenly pushed open and a tall man with gelled black hair strode out of the surgery. He was taller even than John and maybe just a little less broad, having a sort of air about him that said he knew of his own importance… though maybe not as much as he probably should.

“Are you here with Mr Rhodes?”

“Yes,” Ted stood up immediately.

“I’m Doctor Barrett, I was in charge of Mr Rhodes’ surgery.”

“Detective Cena,” John inputted immediately, “What’s Mr Rhodes’ condition?”

Barrett looked amused for a moment, “Did you think I’d forget my first case here so easily, detective? I’m pleased to see you appear in good health.”

John almost looked embarrassed before prompting, “Wade, how is Cody?”

“Well, John, Cody is going to make a full recovery—”

Ted would have keeled over if it weren’t for Randy, but the jubilation was short-lived.

“However it is going to take time… and there is a chance he may be permanently affected.”

Without thinking Ted grabbed for Randy’s wrist, squeezing so hard Randy actually winced for a moment.

“What do you mean affected?” Randy ground out in a pained voice.

Wade’s expression turned sombre, “We can’t confirm it yet but the bullet passed through his gut and lodged near his spine. There’s a chance that Cody may experience motor difficulties in the future.”

For a moment John thought Ted was going to throw up, the man twitching as though he was going to start heaving, but instead he rasped out, “You mean… he’ll be paralysed?”

“It’s a possibility, yes. But, as I say, we can’t confirm that he is, and even if he is there’s a chance that it could only be a mild form that physical therapy and other rehabilitation can cure him of in no time.”

It was probably meant to be comforting but Randy could see that Ted didn’t look overly comforted. Not that he blamed him… he’d always thought the world would end if he had ever received such news concerning John.

“Doc, can I speak to you for a moment?” John asked, taking Wade by the arm and leading him away from Randy and Ted as Ted’s legs gave out and he fell back onto his chair, torn between jubilation Cody would live and devastation that he might be forever damaged.

~::~

John walked Wade to the far end of the corridor, taking a glance back over his shoulder. Ted was in the seat, covering his face with one hand although John wasn’t convinced he was actually crying. It seemed to be something more like delayed shock, John could see him shaking even with the distance. Randy put an arm over his shoulders, paying no heed to John as he took care of Ted. For the moment, John had peace to ask what he liked.

“Is the bullet still in him?” he asked quietly. 

Wade raised his eyebrows. “Actually, yes. I’ll explain everything to his friend later on but for the moment I’m not sure that he’s in an emotional state to process the pros and cons of the whole thing.”

“He was there and saw everything,” said John. “And uh, he doesn’t always do too well in hospitals.” Actually he had no idea if that was true, but it had occurred to him that perhaps given the amount of people who went to hospital to die, there might be a few people Ted could see and they couldn’t. And hadn’t Ted actually mentioned something like that in passing? 

Wade nodded. “Well, he’s not actually doing bad but I recognise that look, he’s gonna hear the bad news and find it hard to get past that to get to the positives. And there are positives. The bullet was lodged too close to his vital organs for us to take it out safely, but it’s not going to make a difference to be honest, it’s the damage done that’s going to be the thing to get past. It’s not doing further harm where it is, but it might do so to take it out and I’d rather not risk it.”

“But you said that he might experience some paralysis—“

“Yes, but again, that would be a reaction to the damage done when the bullet entered. The bullet itself did what it could and now is a constant reminder whenever he goes through airport security.”

“This paralysis, how bad is it gonna be?”

Wade looked pained. “I didn’t say that he’ll be paralysed. I said that he might experience some motor difficulties and we can’t judge how serious those will be until he’s awake and we can monitor his responses. To be honest John, there’s just no way to tell until we can see how well he moves – I can’t see any sign of degeneration in his nerves but that bullet did a lot of damage and even if there’s no permanent, lasting effects, in the short term he’ll need quite a lot of physio to get back on his feet.”

John shot a look at Ted. “Somehow, I don’t think the bills will be a problem.”

Wade shrugged. “Good. He’ll need time but I’ve no reason to think there’s anything other than a good prognosis. He’s young, healthy and it could have been a lot worse. A lot worse. A couple of inches closer to the gun and they wouldn’t even have brought him to me. He’d be in the room downstairs with a tag on his toe.”

“…I think you might not want to tell Ted that, or at least not like that.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Wade glanced back at Ted and Randy. “Look, Mr Rhodes won’t wake up for a while, I’d give it at least eight hours and probably more. If you can talk him into going home for some sleep, then it’d do him the world of good.”

“I know.” John gave an ironic smile. “But I don’t think I’ll be moving him. Hell, I’m not sure you’ll get him to leave in the whole time it takes Cody to recover.”

“Then bring him deodorant when you come visit. In the meantime, I can arrange for him to maybe sit by the bed once we’ve moved Mr Rhodes into his own room. He’s the next of kin I take it? Or a close approximation.”

That wasn’t at all usual in John’s experience – most people tended to be suspicious when another man who clearly wasn’t a parent, child or brother announced they wanted to be at another man’s bedside. John knew that Randy had dealt with it, although not so much since an anxious, frightened Randy tended to be aggressive and no one wanted to deal with that. But Wade hadn’t even asked for clarification, although Ted and Cody clearly weren’t related.

“He’s Cody’s boyfriend,” he replied and then wondered if he should have lied a little, upgraded the relationship in order to get Ted closer. 

“Fine,” said Wade, much to John’s surprise. “I’ll arrange for someone to get him a chair and maybe a blanket. He looks like he’s been through it himself... which reminds me, has anyone looked at the wounds on his face?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’ll do that now while someone gets him a chair. I don’t envy him, spending the next however many hours in one of them, they’re hideously uncomfortable.”

“You’ll look at him?” John frowned. “I thought you were a surgeon.”

Wade smiled, almost boyishly. “I am. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten how to check out some bruises and do some stitches. And in any case, if he sees I’m capable of doing a good job on him, it’ll set his mind more at ease.”

John nodded, heading back down the corridor with Wade and reflecting that when it came to someone who could understand some of the less psychic parts of Cody and Ted’s story, they could have done a whole lot worse. 

“It’ll be good for Cody to have someone around to help him out with his recovery, keep his spirits up,” said Wade quietly. “I’ve noticed in the past that kind of thing always helps.”

John didn’t reply. Given Ted’s nomadic nature and what he said about being pulled away from places without his consent or even a warning, he didn’t know for sure that Ted would be around to help Cody’s rehabilitation, no matter how much he might want to be. 

~:~

For Cody, waking up was like rising very slowly from some comforting state of non-knowing. His mind started to work before his body registered he was coming around, but his mind was foggy, slightly lost. He couldn’t quite recall what had happened. All he knew was that he was somewhere warm and safe and that there was pain but it was distant, almost detached from his body. The only thing he could liken it to was when he had been a child and had his appendix out; he’d woken with that same kind of drowsy feeling of not-quite well being and the same dissociated pain. If that held true then he was in a hospital, which meant something had happened 

TED!

A sudden flash of images related to the blonde flashed through his head, culminating in the sight of Ted getting the handle end of a shotgun in the face. Cody remembered reaching out to steady or catch him, but after that there was nothing at all, no matter how hard he tried to recall it was simply lost in the dark. There was nothing at all between that moment and this one. 

He stopped drifting, struggling to wake instead. If something had happened to Ted, then he had to know what it was, he had to put it right—

He opened his eyes. 

The view was nothing special at all, a white ceiling with nothing at all to differentiate it from any other ceiling in the world. But he definitely wasn’t at home or the hotel he had been staying in; the bed was far too hard to be home and in any case, he slept on his side no matter where he was. And with Ted, he had slept in the blonde’s arms. But he was on his back, vision slightly blurred. A muted bleeping sound came from somewhere and he became aware that as well as the distant pains there were some sensations that he couldn’t immediately place, pressure in odd parts of his body. His body felt heavy and just turning his head to the side took a massive effort. 

He smiled rather tiredly as he saw Ted in the chair by the bed, chin on his chest, sleeping fitfully. There were a couple of stitches on his cheek, perhaps from where he had been hit with the gun, but something about the bruising and the cut, he was as beautiful as Cody remembered. He could also see the machines that confirmed his suspicions about the hospital, but they were secondary to the man sitting with him. 

No matter what had happened to him, Ted had been with him the whole time. He was even dressed the same, the jeans and shirt he’d thrown on when he’d been pulled from his workout to go find Cody. Now he was rumpled and the shirt bore bloodstains that seemed a little too much for the wound on his cheek. Still, Cody had never seen anything so welcome. 

He tried to say Ted but his voice didn’t work, nothing but a dry croak coming out. He needed a drink to ease his throat a little but moving his head had been hard enough work, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to reach out for the glass by the bed until he was hydrated. Ah, irony. 

The dusty sound that had come from his throat shouldn’t have attracted any attention at all but Ted’s head jerked suddenly up the moment he made it, his eyes going wide as he tried to wake himself and then blinking a couple of times. He let out a jaw-cracking yawn and then scrubbed at his eyes before looking at Cody and stopping dead the moment he realised the other was awake.

“Cody?”

Cody’s smile grew a little wider and Ted reached out, stroking Cody’s face. “How’re you feeling?”

Again Cody tried to speak and very little came out. Ted glanced at the glass of water, back at Cody, apparently trying to decide if he should allow Cody the drink and then threw caution to the wind, supporting Cody’s head as he gave him the drink. Cody hated feeling so dependant but the water was exactly what he needed; he felt more lucid the moment he got a couple of mouthfuls inside him. 

Ted put the glass aside and Cody licked his lips, waiting for Ted to finish before questioning him. “What happened to me?”

Ted looked uncomfortable. “You were shot. The gun went off… you remember where we were?”

“Last I remember, you were the one getting injured.” Cody’s voice sounded rusty and the chuckle he gave sounded dry, like an elderly man. He hated the sound of it and stopped right away. 

“I’m just fine,” Ted reassured him quickly. “And those people were taken to the police station.”

“The kids?”

“Safe. I don’t know much else though. I’ve been here.” Ted looked a little apologetic. “John had to go back to the station to deal with everything and Randy’s just gone back to get a few things. He’s not allowed in here anyway, only one at a time. John’s also called your agent, Layla? She’s gonna contact your parents, they should be here pretty soon.”

Cody considered this. Layla would probably travel with them and while she would be saving up her emotional breakdown for when it wouldn’t screw things up, he couldn’t say the same about his mother. She would probably be terrified and angry by turns, while his dad would be hearty and jocular to his face while trying to push his considerable weight around at the cop shop, demanding the death penalty or, even better, five minutes alone with whoever had shot his youngest child. Just thinking about it wore him out and it irritated him, he’d only been awake a few minutes and he already felt like slipping back into sleep. 

“Am I gonna be okay Ted?” he asked. 

Ted’s eyes shifted away from him and then back to his face. “You’re gonna be fine Cody. The hospital did a great job, but you have to rest up.”

“Good plan.” Cody felt his eyes drifting closed once more. “Love you.”

“I love you too,” Ted said sincerely, taking Cody’s hand, but he was already falling back into welcoming sleep. Although there was one very unwelcoming thought that went with him. There had been one moment there, the slightest hint of something when Cody had asked him if he was going to be okay.   
Ted looked almost like he had been lying.


	22. Chapter Twenty-One: An Unexpected Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Mrs and Mr Rhodes arrive it transpires that Cody and Ted's families had a little more history than either realised. Meanwhile, as Cody recovers John's investigation into the Morrisons it still ongoing, including an interrogation of Melina herself.

The next thing Ted was aware of was Randy knocking on the door to Cody’s room, the blonde gently disentangling his hand from his lover’s and slipping outside, shutting the door as quietly as possible even though it seemed as though nothing was going to wake Cody up for the foreseeable future. At least he had woken up though, that was something Ted kept reminding himself as he looked up into the reliable face of his oldest friend.

“I wasn’t expecting you’d be back so soon.”

“I still think you should at least come and get a shower man,” Randy said, not unkindly, “The doc said there’s nothing that’s gonna be happening anytime soon right? And although he may have arranged everything else I doubt he can start swinging you showers from somewhere or anything.”

“I know…” but Ted didn’t want to leave.

“I’ll wait right here with him,” even though Ted heading to their place, showering and then returning would take half an hour tops depending on traffic and how long he took in the shower.

“I just—“it was terrifying to think that if he left the hospital and something suddenly, horrendously went wrong, even though he knew that realistically he was being stupid: Dr Barrett had even said that they had done the best they could, and even with the paralysis a potential it still otherwise indicated that everything else in terms of Cody’s health was going to be as fine and dandy as it could in such circumstances.

“Teddy, go and get a shower,” Randy was putting his foot down now, “He’ll still be here when you get back and I won’t move from outside here,” it was the best he could do since Ted was the only one who had been cleared to go in that wasn’t family.

Biting his lip and hesitating a few moments further Ted then nodded, “Alright, I’m going. Just please—”

Randy rolled his eyes and squeezed Ted’s shoulder affectionately, “Just get going.”

Glancing once more through the small window of Cody’s room to where his sleeping lover lay Ted then turned on his heel and headed out of the hospital as fast as he could without arousing suspicion from security staff thinking he had some kind of bomb or had somehow stolen hospital supplies or drugs to go and sell on a street-corner. He liked to think he didn’t look like a drug-dealer typically but with a day’s worth of stubble on his cheeks and clothes marred by blood and sweat he probably fit the description more than he wanted to admit.

It took little time, surprisingly, to locate Randy’s car, climbing into the driver’s seat and having enough wherewithal to keep from crashing into anyone in his haste. If Cody looked bad with a bullet-wound from a shotgun it was nothing compared to what Randy was likely to do to him if he did anything to damage the man’s precious car.

As he was pulling out of the hospital parking-lot though a taxi passed by him, the blonde too concerned with remembering how to get back towards the main part of the city and to Randy’s place that he didn’t notice the two dark haired women and rather rotund white-haired man who were anxiously eying the hospital looming overhead.

~::~

Randy’s head snapped up as he heard a rather loud, drawling voice coming from the direction of the front desk, “Excuse me ma’am, but I’ve been told you’ve got my baby boy he’ah. Cody Rhodes, can ya tell me what room he’s in please?” there was the barest hint of some kind of lisp in the man’s words and Randy found himself wondering whether lisps could somehow be passed down genetically.

And just what the hell was he thinking about?

As the nurse started faffing with the computer Randy found himself stepping forward, “Um, excuse me, sir,” he added on, “Ma’am,” when he noticed the older woman. He found himself mildly suspicious of the young looking dark haired woman teetering on ridiculous sized heels for an office job but wasn’t too concerned since he suspected that he knew who she was. Still, Layla wasn’t what he had pictured in an agent/editor, “Cody’s down here in this room.”

Aside from the obvious weight discrepancy it was quite easy to see Cody in his father and mother, although you couldn’t exactly call him an easy blend between the two, “Down here ya say? An’ who’re you son?”

Randy wasn’t sure how he felt about being addressed by Cody’s old man like his old man would address him but he merely decided that now wasn’t the time to be letting his temper and his ego get nudged, nodding his head and then starting to lead the Rhodes’ and Layla towards what was Cody’s room, “I’m Randy Orton, sir, I’m a friend of Ted’s who’s… a friend of Cody’s,” somehow he doubted that Cody would appreciate him outing the fact he now seemed to be in a relationship before he had laid the groundwork; the parents had been through enough of a shock without having that kind of thing thrown in on top of it.

“Ted?” Dusty turned towards his wife, “I didn’ know Cody knew anyone called Ted.”

“He doesn’t,” Mrs Rhodes responded slowly, “At least, not that I’m aware of.”

“Not in the field he doesn’t,” Layla responded when they both looked to her, who was eying Randy in turn although Randy was a little annoyed in a purely egotistical sense that her gaze wasn’t altogether admiring.

“The field?” he repeated despite himself, “What, is he in the military now?”

“That would explain more why he was shot,” Layla shot back tartly and Randy supposed he had to give her props for spit-firing back against him when most people wouldn’t.

“He was shot because he was trying to save some children.”

“Excuse me, Randy?” Mrs Rhodes asked, her pleasant demeanour was genuine enough but there was a steely undercurrent in her eyes that warned him he’d better not try and fuck around because she would make him sorry, “Can you tell us what happened please? The message we got wasn’t especially specific, only told us that the police were ensuring our son was being treated for gunshot wounds.”

Randy squirmed almost nervously; fathers he could handle generally, there was the man-to-man code (and after facing down John’s own father and five brothers when their relationship became more serious he didn’t think he could ever be more concerned again than he had in that moment) but when it came to mothers he just couldn’t handle it. Sisters could be charmed, and so could mothers, but most of the time they were a lot shrewder than people gave them credit for and he didn’t want to get caught out.

“Um… I’m not a policeman ma’am, maybe you should wait until they get here?”

Mrs Rhodes looked almost amused by the response, “I think you’ll find your account will be just fine.”

“Uh—”

“Randy, what’s going on? Is Cody awake?”

Randy wasn’t sure he’d ever been so glad to see Ted, though he did feel mild remorse for the briefest of moments that he was dragging his friend into the lion’s den with him. Where the hell was John with his public relations stuff when you needed him?

“Teddy,” Randy offered a smile, “This is Cody’s mum and dad, and this is Layla.”

Ted, hair still slightly damp and gelled, in a fresh t-shirt, hoody and jeans, each with a subtle undercurrent of costing a little more than your typical off-the-shelf without being obvious about it, looked startled for a moment and then his cheeks turned a pale shade of red that made Randy want to whack his naive friend around the back of the head a little; Ted really didn’t know how easily his face gave him away sometimes, he wore his heart on his sleeve. And especially since he doubted the Rhodes parents knew that their son was now seeing someone they could really do without Ted tipping them off… them jumping down Cody’s throat about seeing someone, and that someone inadvertently being partially responsible in the situation that had gotten him shot (the whole solving the children’s kidnapping and murder bit) was probably not something the man needed after first waking up.

“Oh, um,” Ted immediately offered his hand to Dusty who looked both surprised and amused by the action, though concern and anxiety regarding his child was still present, “Ted DiBiase, sir, nice to meet you… though I’m sorry it’s in these circumstances.”

Dusty’s brow arched, “As in Ted DiBiase junior?”

Ted didn’t know why he was so shocked his name was known; his father was a prominent business figure after all, their family wealthy. Shoulders slumping mildly for no reason that he consciously noticed Ted merely nodded sheepishly, and then asked, “Um, do you know my father sir?”

“Enough-a this ‘sir’ business boys, call me Dusty. An’ yeah, I kinda know your daddy from back in the day, the days before he became-a millionaire of course,” the man laughed, “It’s been a while since-a last saw him, he probably don’ rememba me no more… but no matter. I wanna hear what you boys have to say about what happened to my baby boy as soon as we get to see him.”

“Where’s the doctor around here?”

“It’s a hospital,” Randy muttered to himself, “Surely you can spot the people in the white coats?”

If Layla heard him she didn’t acknowledge it, though Randy was sure he saw Mrs Rhodes hiding a smile behind a delicate and strategically placed cough.

“Dr Barrett was dealing with your son.”

“Dr Barrett?”

“Did someone call?” came the British baritone and Randy and Ted (the latter with admittedly some reluctance) backed away and let the family approach, Layla surprisingly lagging behind as well although she didn’t seem particularly inclined to interact with them. Ted would have thought she was a lot ruder and standoffish than Cody had made her seem, but the circumstances of their meeting were hardly social ones, and Cody had said that Layla was like a sister to him… she was likely just worried. Speaking of sisters---

“Excuse me, Miss El? Do Cody’s brother and sister know what happened?”

“Yes,” her mouth pinched slightly but her dark eyes reflected worry, “But Dustin’s touring and can’t just drop everything even though he insisted he would, and Teil just had a baby recently so she’s not in much condition to travel.”

~::~

“Daddy?”

“Cody!”

Cody almost couldn’t breathe when both of his parents suddenly decided that they had to be the one to hug him first, the wires and tubes attached to his skin protesting and their combined movements pressed down upon them.

“Ow, ow!” Cody protested, although the actions didn’t really hurt still, though whether the fact he’d just woken up factored into that on top of the pain medicine he had no idea.

“Oh honey!” they backed off swiftly, his teary-eyed mother clutching his hand, “Sorry!”

“It’s OK,” Cody’s face softened, “Ma, don’t cry OK? All’s fine.”

Dusty was still frowning somewhat and that didn’t reassure Cody at all; his father was jolly, a man who seemed to be perpetually smiling no matter what was happening, always working to make sure everyone else became as cheery and optimistic as he was.

“… Dad?”

“Cody… have the doctors spoken to you yet?”

“No,” Cody asked confusedly, although that same bad feeling he’d had when he spoken to Ted was once again making its presence known in the back of his mind, “Why, what’s the matter? I mean, I spoke to Teddy but—”

“’Teddy’? Ted DiBiase’s boy?”

Cody was almost annoyed, “How do you know who Ted’s dad is?” even he hadn’t known and he’d since come to learn just how affluent the DiBiase’s apparently were.

“That doesn’t matter. I didn’t know you knew him.”

“I um, didn’t, really, until I got called down here…” Cody knew he was babbling, and potentially blushing, but he couldn’t help himself; usually his dad could read him like a book and he really didn’t want to get into a conversation about his romantic experiences when he still had a hole in his gut.

“Cody… baby,” his mother interrupted before they could obviously get into a thing about Ted, “Maybe we should get the doctor in here to talk to you.”

Cody’s hand felt cold and clammy as he clasped his mother’s back, “Why?” he asked, dread growing when they exchanged a look over his head that had despair written all over it. “Why?” he repeated, voice growing louder, “What’s wrong?”

~::~ 

John was well aware that he was living purely on coffee and adrenaline and sooner or later he was going to crash, and hard. He’d had a few hours sleep, mostly snatched here and there, he had been home just about long enough to shower and change and what he really needed was to go to bed for roughly twenty hours. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep so well at the moment though, because of what was going on with Cody. And he was determined that Morrison and Melina were going away for a long time; he was just the person to ensure it happened. 

No one in the hierarchy was happy with him over what had happened; that he’d involved outsiders, psychics no less, and one of them had been injured, was considered very bad behaviour. He might have been looking at disciplinary action had it not been for the children being found alive and that Cody wasn’t likely to be pressing charges – even if he did, he had followed Melina on his own volition and nothing would stick. John didn’t think for a moment that would happen though. 

He was still the officer in charge though and it was still his case. He’d gotten half-lucky on this one; there had been enough fuss that he had been able to duck out to the hospital once or twice and he’d had time to formulate his case. Much of that was thanks to the mess with the lawyers. Melina’s first lawyer had spoken to her for an hour and then refused point blank to take the case. Her second lawyer was stalling. Morrison’s lawyer had been kicked out when he’d apparently suggested a plea deal, giving up Melina for a lighter sentence. John found it very interesting that he didn’t want his wife in any more trouble, but it made him wary as well. It could be that Morrison was planning to take all the blame for everything. He thought he had a good case against Melina but with Morrison insisting that he and he alone was to blame, it was possible that she could get a lighter sentence than he’d like. Something bulletproof would be nice. 

The lawyers finally sorted out, John was in his office going through a list of questions and a summary of the case and likely charges, occasionally reaching out for a choc-chip cookie – a grateful father had brought them in for him when his daughter had been returned. Of course, there was one father who was still in limbo waiting for news of his daughter and John hadn’t yet been able to confirm her deceased. Now the living children had been found he wanted to know where Dazzle and the original Theresa were, for closure if nothing else. But he had the doleful feeling that neither of his suspects would be talking about that part. 

There was a slight knock at the door and Chris walked in, his expression grim. It wasn’t like Chris to look that way, even when the case was serious and John had a sinking feeling. “Hey Chris. What’s up?”

“More news on your case...” Chris managed a small smile when he saw John’s expression. “I’ve been temporarily reassigned, since I was there when the shit went down. Nice to be in on the end of it, after all that happened in that house.” He paused. “Any news on the boy in the hospital?”

“Cody?” John shrugged. “He’s alive, he’s had surgery and he’s doing okay. There might be some long-term damage. I’m making sure that Melina gets what’s coming to her for shooting him, she’ll get an attempted murder charge on top of kidnapping and whatever else we can throw at her.” He hesitated. “You didn’t seem too surprised about psychics being involved.”

“Well...” Chris smirked a little. “I was, but I was surprised it was your idea. They really shook Evan up, but I think there’s a lot more to the world than what we see and feel. I’m sceptical about most people who claim to be psychic but I believe your friends really proved themselves.”

“They did.” John sighed, trying to get his mind off what he might have brought on his friends by initiating their involvement. “What’s the news?”

“It’s – well, it’s not good but it’s what we expected. The crime scene techs found something unpleasant in the shed out back of the house. Last place they looked, but they had an idea from the moment they walked in and smelled the place...”

John closed his eyes, as if it would lessen the blow.

“Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide the smell, it wasn’t really noticeable from the outside and it wasn’t as strong as it should have been inside either. Two boxes, made especially. A couple of coffins basically.”

“Human remains?”

“Yeah. Kids. We’ve ID’d one as one of the missing children from this case...” Chris handed over a picture and John took it, although he knew all the pictures of the missing like the back of his hand and he already knew who he was going to see. 

“Dazzle,” he said flatly. 

Chris frowned. “Huh?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” John put the picture carefully aside. Her father was going to be devastated but at least now he knew – and there was the other part as well. Dazzle had wanted Ted to reassure her father that she was okay and had felt no pain but Ted had his own problems at the moment and there was no way the man would be receptive to a stranger talking about his loss. But John might be able to slip something in there about it. A suggestion, the knowledge that she’d suffered and suspected nothing, that much he could give the man and it might even go some way to making him feel better – although John suspected it wouldn’t do nearly enough. If he could have Morrison and Melina jailed, that might help as well but in truth, there would never be anything enough to stop his suffering. 

“It took a while, but we got a DNA hit off the other one. There’s only one child unaccounted for so they were surprised to see two bodies... well.” Chris raised his eyebrows. “Everyone except Ev was, I should say. I think this case really shook up his perception of the world. Anyway. Turns out the DNA matched what they took off the angel you dug up.”

“We’ve found them all.” John stared down at the table, wishing that somehow he’d been able to manufacture a happier ending. “Do the parents know?”

“Not yet. Uh, Katie’s father’s still in the station though, in reception. He wouldn’t leave until we heard something. He’s been there a long time.”

“Right.”

“You want me to find someone to break the news to him?”

“No.” John stood up. “We’ll be interviewing Morrison and Melina one at a time and I think we’ll start with her. She seems to be the volatile one, this whole thing was because of what she wanted. I think she’s our best chance to get the full story. I’d prefer it if you were the one in there with me.”

“What about the father?”

“It’s my case, my job.” John ran a hand over his hair, clearly not relishing the moment. “I’ll tell him myself.”

~:~

Ted DiBiase junior might have grown up monied and occasionally the experience would colour his assumptions and feelings, but Ted DiBiase senior had not. His biological father had taken off and the man he thought of as his real father had been a hardworking man of modest means. The original Mike DiBiase hadn’t indulged in wild extravagances but his son hadn’t gone without – still, Ted senior was well aware that he could spoil his own children a little too much and he enjoyed the trappings that came with his wealth. He enjoyed the things and the experiences that money could buy and there were times when he was damned grateful for his good fortune. It meant he had the money to throw around to get his own way and when he got a call out of the blue from an old friend saying something about his son being involved in a bad situation, he could drop everything and get to him as quickly as he could. Money was not an object and he was in St Louis bare hours later. 

He knew where Bob’s son Randy lived – he had long thought that if Ted ever got a respite he might go and visit his oldest friend in the world. But it wasn’t his first port of call. Instead he checked into a very classy hotel, left his bags and went straight back out again. He had arranged a meeting and although there might have been some doubt about anyone else being there in time, he had spent enough money to make sure it happened. He took a cab to the bar he was due at and managed a smile as he saw the exterior. He hadn’t been in a place like this for years but he wasn’t at all surprised that this was the venue chosen. He was smart-casual, maybe a little too upmarket given that he shopped (or rather, his wife shopped) for his clothes in the most expensive stores, but he thought he wouldn’t stand out too much. And sure enough, when he walked in he barely got a second glance from the other patrons. 

“Hey, Ted!”

Senior looked around and grinned when he saw Virgil ‘Dusty’ Rhodes in a booth in the corner. He hadn’t seen the man in years, they had somehow fallen out of touch but that didn’t mean that Senior was any less pleased to see him. He went over and when Dusty rose, he pulled the man into a hug. “Good to see you. I wish it was under happier circumstances.”

“Me too boy.” Dusty’s smile was genuine but a little strained. 

“Let me get us a drink and I’ll be right with you.” Ted went to the bar, ordered a bottle of beer and another for Dusty and gifted the barman a hundred dollars, telling him to keep the drinks coming to their little table and the change from it at the end of the night was a tip. The barman nodded, a little overwhelmed but apparently determined to do as he was bid and Ted decided that a second bill would be his should he ensure neither one of them had to get up again. 

He took the drinks back to the table and sat down next to Dusty, reflecting that the man looked pretty rough. Then again, he expected nothing less given that his youngest child had apparently just taken a bullet and had major surgery. Then again, Dusty hadn’t gotten up to four hundred pounds since the news had broken. 

“How’s Cody?”

“He’s doing okay,” replied Dusty. “Not bad. He’s awake, surgery was a success. The bullet lodged close to his spine though and he’ll need a lot of rehab, a lot of therapy. Too soon to tell if he’s gonna walk again, although they’ll know in a day or so when his drugs wear off.”

Senior grimaced. “Let me know anything I can do to help. Anything at all.” He took a swig of his drink. “Where’s the wife?”

“Still at the hospital, then back to the hotel. Probably she’ll be back there first thing in the morning. The hospital aren’t very keen on anyone being there all night now that he’s awake and recovering but she probably would have insisted. Except he asked that Ted was allowed to stay instead and it looked to me like the boy wouldn’t have gone home even if he wasn’t allowed in the room.”

“I see.” Senior tapped his fingertips against the neck of the bottle. “I don’t understand. I didn’t even realise our boys knew one another.”

“They met one another here, I was told.” Dusty smiled slightly. “I managed to get some of the details out of Cody earlier on tonight and at least talking about your boy distracted him from some upsetting news for a while…” Dusty sighed, his face creasing for a moment. “Anyhow. Cody was in town because… well uh, he has some unusual gifts. Specific talents.”

Senior looked blank. 

“He’s psychic.”

“Oh!” Senior apparently didn’t know how to react. “You mean he’s uh, doing readings or something— 

“No. He prefers to keep it low-key, he’s actually a writer. But sometimes he just knows things. It’s been like that since he was a little boy. There’s just no explanation for it and he don’t like to broadcast it, but he’ll help people out when he can using it. He got a call from the police department here and came to do some work with them on some missing kids. He met Ted while he was on the case…” Dusty gave Senior a penetrating look. “Though he’s not told me exactly why Ted’s suddenly breezed into town and started to work on the same thing. Boy said he wasn’t in law enforcement.”

Senior was quiet for a few moments. “Ted has uh – well, he’s got gifts of his own, if you can call it that. He’s not psychic and honestly, it’s caused him a lot of pain over the years. A lot of pain. He doesn’t stand still, he’s too busy out chasing up his ‘senses’, claims he’s putting his God-given abilities to the best use he can. Though I don’t know that it’s as voluntary as he suggests it is.” He smiled humourlessly. “Perhaps you and I had our nutsacks too close to radiation or something, both our boys with a little extra perception.”

Dusty snorted a laugh. “Maybe we did. Ted’s psychic too then?”

“No. Uh, he can talk to the dead.”

Dusty raised his eyebrows. “Wow. That must be challenging.”

“Oh hell, it’s next to impossible.” Senior ran his hand through his greying hair, barely noticing that he was actually talking about Ted’s differences to someone other than his wife for the first time ever. Then again, it wasn’t as if there were support groups for this kind of thing. “He didn’t even realise what he saw was different to what anyone else saw at first and we thought it was imaginary friends. And then he knew things he shouldn’t have and people started to avoid him and make the evil eye at him in the streets – I wish I was joking! People were scared of him, or they bullied him and it wasn’t even something easy to understand. We moved him from school to school, his brothers were horribly embarrassed and all the while he was being harassed by people who weren’t even there. He took off when he was seventeen and told me later it was like he had to. Turns out he’d been called by some dead hooker over a hundred miles out of state and from then on, there’s always someone calling him, they just never leave him alone—“

He stopped, then laughed a little. “I’m sorry Dusty. It all overwhelmed me there for a moment. I worry about Ted a whole lot. One of these days, one of those dead people are gonna pull him right into trouble he can’t get out of.”

Dusty nodded soberly. “Can’t be easy. Cody’s luckier. He doesn’t see things, he touches things and he can get a reading off of it. Finds a lot of lost people that way – he thinks it’s his responsibility too. And it’s easier for him to not look than it is to not see. Still, landed him in trouble this time...” He took a hard look at Senior. “But something good did come out of it. It was pure luck that got him hurt, good or bad depends on the viewpoint. But those kids are okay thanks to him and Ted – and they’ve got each other.”

Senior looked blank and Dusty sighed. “Do I have ta spell it out? I ain’t a smart man but I saw how it is with those two. Cody’s anxious when your boy’s not there and Teddy don’t wanna leave his side for even a moment. Wait ‘til you see them both. You’ll know.”

The penny dropped and Senior widened his eyes a little. “Oh.”

“I’ve not just outed your boy, have I?”

“Oh, we knew.” Senior neglected to mention that when Ted had delivered the news, his first thought had not been for a loss of grandchildren or potential social shame. It had been one of frustration in the direction of the general universe, thinking that it would have been hard enough for Ted to find a good woman given all that his life involved. Finding a good man who understood would be impossible. 

And yet, that was what Dusty was telling him. 

“Thought it might be a good idea to tell you myself before there was any big story breaking,” said Dusty. “Cody mostly keeps himself out of the spotlight and I’ve never heard your boys name involved in anything – fine boy by the way, looks a whole lot like you. I recognised him right off, even if I did never see him before. Cody getting hurt though, this being a big deal ‘round here, I’m not sure they won’t warrant some kind of mention. And Ted’s too busy being worried about Cody to think ‘bout the small stuff, like letting his folks know he’s okay. I ain’t interfering Ted, just thought it might be a good time to work out how we’re gonna look after our boys. Both of ‘em.”

Senior finished his drink, signalling to the barman for refills as he mulled this over. He had worried about Ted his whole life, much more so than his other two seemingly normal children. He was sickened that Ted had been somehow involved in some kind of incident but Dusty was right about a lot of things. He was worried about Ted spending his whole life solitary, with no one but the dead to talk to and if his middle son had found someone who understood what he went through, someone he might even love, then Senior was going to do all he could to make Ted’s life easier. 

“They won’t be mentioned in the media,” he said with a smirk. “I can guarantee it. I promise. And we’ll get Cody the very best help available for his rehab. Now, I’ve not heard much about what’s happened and I certainly didn’t want to read the papers about it, I’d only have worked myself up and those things are rumour and misinformation. Tell me what’s happened and we’ll have another drink. And first thing in the morning, we’ll start making whatever arrangements are needed. 

~:~

Melina looked like hell, that was Chris’s first thought when he walked into the interview room and saw the woman sat beside her lawyer. The lawyer was a woman, neatly presented in an immaculate suit with a briefcase on the table, the whole image apparently meant to subtly implicate standing and power, a don’t-fuck-with-me attitude. On the other hand Melina had showered and changed into the nondescript garb they had for such matters – her clothes had been taken for testing and there was no one to get her anything fresh from a house that was a crime scene anyway. Her face was wiped clean of the heavy make-up she had worn back at the house and on all available pictures. Her hair was brushed but not styled and she had been playing with it enough that around her face was a frizzy tangle. Her nails were ragged where she had been nibbling at them. There were dark shadows around her eyes and the lines on her face seemed deeper than they had before. Still, Chris thought she looked less hard and somehow far prettier than she had when she had overdone the warpaint, or she would do if she weren’t in such obvious distress. 

John leaned against the far wall, folding his arms. Since he had been the one to arrest and mace her, it had been decided that he would play the heavy and Chris would be understanding, the good cop to John’s bad cop. Chris was quite comfortable in either role but he couldn’t see John as being an insensitive asshole as Chris was so unashamedly good at, and he and John hadn’t ever worked interrogation together before. They weren’t even in the same department and Chris had ended up on the case almost by accident. He hoped it wouldn’t be a problem. 

Chris took the seat opposite the two women, apparently ignoring John’s glowering. “You ready to tell us what was going on there Mel?”

“My client will make a statement,” said the lawyer imperiously. “But first, we’d like to know what charges we’re looking at and if there’s any room for an agreement—“

“Your client is looking at attempted murder…” John looked at the ceiling as he ticked the salient points off on his fingers. “At least six counts of kidnap and possibly up to eight. Child endangerment. Resisting arrest. And anything else I can throw at her.” He looked back at Melina, glaring. “Agreement? Forget it. There’s enough on this rap sheet to put her away for the rest of her life and that’s before we go into what we found in the shed—“

“You were in my shed?” Melina looked ready to launch herself across the room at John and her lawyer put a restraining hand on her arm. “John wouldn’t give you permission to go in my shed! What were you doing in there?”

“You don’t seem to understand that we can go anywhere in that house and any other you’ve lived in looking for evidence.” John raised his eyebrows. “Found some other very interesting things. So don’t go telling me that you’re withholding your permission because from now on, we’re withholding any rights you might have had before you decided to kidnap and terrorise small children.”

“Terrorise!”

Melina looked outraged and Chris leaned over the table, giving her his very best smile. “Look, those children are in good health, clean and fed and that’ll go in your favour. You cared for them—“

Melina nodded vigorously. “Yes! They’re my children and they need me! You should have seen what they had before – some of them were just dragged up, forced to look out for themselves, their parents too busy to look out for them, or on drugs or in jail! None of them had a mommy. They needed me and I gave them everything, I took good care of all of them!” 

“Melina,” warned her lawyer.

“I did! I made their lives so much better! And they became better for it! You can’t just let children run wild, obviously, you have to teach them, but I did that and I did it better than their other homes did! I never just let them be on their own and into danger!”

“Danger like you?” asked John sardonically.

“I was never a danger to them. I looked after them.”

“Oh? So why did we find two dead children in your shed?”

The lawyers eyes widened a little but Melina simply sagged in her seat. “It was an accident,” she whispered. “Both times. They were misbehaving and I was trying my best – it wasn’t supposed to happen like that but they were being bad girls—“

“This interview is over,” said the lawyer, interrupting Melina in a hurry. “I need to talk to my client. Alone.”

“That’s fine,” said Chris encouragingly. 

“Talk all you like,” added John. “And then get ready to talk to us. Because you’re going away with or without your statement and everything you tell us might be the difference between a long life behind bars or a short life behind bars followed by a lethal injection.”

Chris shot John a look – he was pushing it a little far but he was tired and angry. And it seemed to have done the trick because Melina looked terrified, not seeming to realise that St Louis had no death penalty. 

The two cops walked out of the interview room, sparing a glance through the two-way mirror as they did so. Chris sighed. “I’ll bet you a steak dinner that they go for an insanity plea.”

“I’m not sure I wanna take you up on that.” John smiled a little. “Although we know a little more than we can ever tell in court. You owe me a steak dinner if she blames everything on the husband.”

“Deal.” Chris rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I wish we could hurry this a little and get them to jail. I’d really just like to go find Ev and maybe spend some quiet time with him.”

John thought of Randy, how good it would be to sit in their home on the couch, Randy’s arms around him while they ate something bad for them, watched mindless television and made a little small talk, avoiding as much as possible the bad topics. Ted wouldn’t be there of course, he would be at the hospital and that would put a pall on things even after he was home. In his mind, John put Cody and Ted in the hotel room they had been spending the nights in lately, Cody just fine and both of them only a call away should he need to check in on them. Safe, the way he wanted them and how they would have been if he’d been able to crack the case more quickly. 

“I hear that,” he said quietly to Chris. “I can’t wait to just go home.”


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two: A Spin-Doctor's Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody meets Ted Sr for the first time much to his surprise after he and Ted have a rather serious talk about Cody's future. John meanwhile has to deal with two Criminal Defense Lawyers he'd rather not have to deal with in preparation for their case to be taken to caught, hoping that their Prosecutor was upto the challenge.

Ted pushed open the door to Cody’s room gently, grinning sheepishly as he proffered a comic book he’d picked up (graphic novel, he corrected himself in his head, remembering how Cody had responded when he’d called them that upon the other confessing that he liked them) and some flowers; he knew it was probably idiotic to give another man flowers but it was just technically the done thing when it came to people being in hospital wasn’t it?

When he saw that Cody wasn’t smiling however he wondered if he’d have been better off going for the chocolate instead.

“Cody?” he asked hesitantly, closing the door behind him, “What is it?” aside from the obvious of course, but he figured that went without saying.

Cody looked down at his hands, tubes and wires still connected to him here and there even though Wade had explained that it was mostly just antibiotics to combat infection and pain meds to keep him from feeling as much of the ill-effects as possible whilst he began his predominant recovery needs. He then looked up and met Ted’s eyes head-on.

“So… you knew there’s a chance I may not be able to walk anymore?”

Ted’s stomach dropped; who would have told him?

Mentally flailing around and not knowing what the hell he was supposed to do, the blonde grasped at the first topic that came to mind even though he knew it was a weak segue in the circumstances, “Where’re your mum and dad?”

“My dad was going to sort something out, and my mum’s gone back to the hotel with Layla. They were both exhausted, and I told them there wasn’t much more they were going to be able to do for me so they must just rest,” Cody responded mildly enough but Ted could see the muscle ticking in his jaw and the unspoken sheen of tears in his eyes. “So… did you know straightaway Ted?”

“Cody—it’s not determined is it, it’s only a small chance?”

“So you knew?”

“… Yes. Dr Barrett told John, me and Randy when you came out of surgery.”

“Excellent… You’ll be leaving soon then?”

Startled, Ted almost dropped his purchases and set them on a nearby table to take care of afterwards, wondering how it was that Cody had still managed to obtain a private room (but then almost immediately reflected that his parents had probably demanded it, and because he was part of an investigation he was probably due it under hospital protocol and everything).

“Leaving? Why?”

Cody wasn’t looking at him now, but Ted swore he could hear a small rustling sound, as though the other’s hands were shaking hard enough against the bedding that it was rustling it, “Well, they’ve caught Melina and Morrison, there isn’t much they’re going to need you for now for at least a few months when they get them in court… surely you can just go back to your parents, or off on your next bit of work? Why would you stick around… if I can’t walk anymore it’s not like we can do anything together. Besides, I don’t think we’ve been together long enough for me to have the right to ask you to push my wheelchair around.”

Each bitter word stung at his heart like a lashing of icy wind in winter, and it was only the remainder that Cody was in a delicate physical condition at that moment in time that stopped Ted from slapping the other man, or at the very least shaking him hard enough to knock some sense into him.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The brusque tone startled Cody and his head snapped up, eyes wide as he looked at Ted; the blonde’s cheeks were flushed red and his eyes had narrowed slightly, the somewhat squinty-eyed look that Ted was giving one that Cody recognised now as his angry look.

“I’m going to be crippled—I wouldn’t expect you to stick around—”

“Do you really have such a low opinion of me? Jesus, Cody--- I thought you knew me better than that.”

Cody winced at the clear hurt dripping from each syllable the other spoke, “It’s not that!” the dark haired man refuted, trying to sit up and then giving up after a few seconds when he felt several uncomfortably twinges even with the pain medicine, “Dammit Ted, there’s no guarantee I’ll ever walk again—”

“That’s only if there’s something wrong in the first place!”

“But if there’s something wrong there are no guarantees, and it isn’t fair of me to burden you even more than life already has!” a tear trickled down Cody’s cheek, Ted’s angry expression softened immediately when he noticed it, stepping closer and taking Cody’s hand as the other hand cupped his cheek and rubbed the tear away gently with his thumb.

“How could you ever think that I would consider you a burden?”

“But—”

“No buts,” Ted said flatly, resting his forehead against the other’s since he didn’t quite dare climb onto the bed with him because of the wires and tubes; Wade would likely kick his ass out righteous if he did anything to interrupt Cody’s recovery.

“Teddy—”

“Cody, if there’s anything wrong then I’ll be right here with you,” no matter how many hours, weeks, months, whatever, of physio and rehab that it took, Ted would be right there to hold his hand and encourage him. “If you honestly thought that I’d just walk away because of something like this after everything we’ve been through and shared together…” he blushed delicately, but felt a little reassured when Cody’s slightly paler-than-usual skin did the same thing, both men obviously reflecting on their night together, “—then I guess I have some things to start proving to you as soon as you get better.”

“So far away?” Cody murmured softly, another tear trickling loose although he was smiling a little more now, “Can’t you start reassuring me now?”

“You have no idea how much I want that,” Ted said honestly, “But we can’t…” he cracked a joking smile, “The bed isn’t big enough for one.”

Cody laughed softly and then reached up to cup the back of the other’s neck and draw him down, “Is a kiss OK?”

“Kissing’s more than OK.”

Their moment was cut short though as a voice was cleared abruptly behind them moments later.

Ted jerked away as though he’d been burned, his blush increasing tenfold when he noticed the second man standing just behind Cody’s father, “Dad?”

What the heck was his dad doing there? He hadn’t called him or anything—

“Hullo son, nice of you to call me and let me know what’s been happening in your life recently,” said Senior somewhat dryly, although it was clear from his tone and expression that he was more relieved that his son was OK, even if the other hadn’t thought to tell him.

“What--- why are you here?”

“Well, when Dusty got in touch and explained a few things to me I thought it was necessary.”

Dusty smiled at Ted, the blonde still blushing due to what they’d been caught doing, even if it wasn’t the worse thing they could have been caught doing, “I rememba tellin’ ya that me an’ your daddy were friends from back when didn’t I? I thought he’d like to know ya were OK.”

Sheepishly Ted ducked his head, “I’m sorry dad, I just--- I’ve had a lot on my mind,” he glanced at Cody and almost immediately Senior saw what Dusty had been talking about in the bar the night before; even if he hadn’t just caught his son in the midst of kissing another man the expression in his eyes would have been enough to scream it out, spelling it loud and clear.

“I understand that,” Senior squeezed his son’s shoulder as he drew next to him, Cody awed by their resemblance because although he did resemble his dad the shared looks didn’t show themselves as much as they did with his big brother Dustin… when he wasn’t wearing his wig and make-up that was. “But in the future, calling your mother and I a little more regularly, or even emailing us, would help us both sleep at night.”

“I’m sorry…”

Senior then turned his attention towards Cody and smiled kindly enough and extended a hand, “I’m sorry we’re meeting for the first time under such circumstances. I’m Ted Senior.”

“Nice to meet you sir… please excuse me not getting up,” Cody’s lisp came out a little more than usual in his nervousness, hating the fact that he was meeting his boyfriend’s father when he undoubtedly looked like he’d been hit by a truck even though he’d been washed up, changed and had fresh sheets than when he’d first been brought in.

Senior’s lips quirked as he released Cody’s hand, glancing at Dusty, “As comically flip as you.”

“Boy learned from the best,” Dusty said proudly, moving over and kissed his son’s forehead affectionately, merely grinning when Cody embarrassedly elbowed him weakly.

“So Theodore…” he addressed his son, “When were you planning to tell me that you have a boyfriend? Or that you were involved in investigating a child kidnapping case? Or that said boyfriend of yours has a strange gift like yours, or that he’d been shot working on the same case?”

“Is this really the place to be discussing this dad?” feeling about six years old all over again and reflecting that this situation wasn’t unlike the time when his father had sat him down and tried to explain how he should be more careful with spouting out the things he knew about certain situations, and not just for his own sake.

“I’d think now is appropriate considering how closely Mr Rhodes is involved.”

“It sounds like you’re talking about his dad…”

Senior looked almost amused even though he was trying to maintain his annoyance, “Are you answering me back son?”

“No sir.”

Cody fought a laugh even though he knew he shouldn’t find it funny, and had he been able to move he would have even left the room to give Ted and his dad some privacy regardless of the fact that Senior didn’t seem all that bothered by it.

“I’m here for another reason other than to check up on you Teddy.”

“What?” Ted looked up then, confusion written all over his face.

Senior and Dusty exchanged secretive grins that made their sons suddenly very nervous, “Oh, just to take care of-a few things,” Dusty drawled, “Nothin’ for you boys ta worry about.”

“Why do I not believe you?” Cody asked uncertainly.

~::~

“What’re you doing here?”

“Figured you’d probably not stopped to eat in at least two days… it a problem I’m here?”

“No, no, of course not, come in.”

Randy quirked a small smile as he looked over his lover, surrounded by paperwork and looking so undeniably rumpled in that way that always accompanied him working hard even when he didn’t do much more than go over paperwork.

“You look like shit babe.”

“I’m so happy you came by to make me feel better.”

“It’s what I do.”

As Randy started to unpack the familiar cartons of Chinese food John’s stomach rumbled loudly, causing the man to blush somewhat sheepishly as he reflected that he was obviously more hungry than he had realised until confronted with one of his most favourite meals ever.

“I guess I could stop for a bite.”

“No kidding,” Randy said dryly, leaving some unopened containers in the back.

“What’re they?” John asked, “Prawn crackers?”

“Nah,” Randy looked almost embarrassed for a moment, defensive, “Considering what I know your little tech-geek is like I figured he probably hasn’t eaten yet either.”

“Evan?”

“You’ve brought him dinner enough for me to pick up what he likes…”

John grinned, “You’re so sweet Randy.”

“Don’t go spreading it around, OK? I have a reputation to protect.”

“I can nip it across to him.”

“I can take it.”

“No it’s fine; he’s probably going to be leaving with Chris soon, so…”

Randy smirked, immediately avoiding chopsticks and bringing out one of two forks that he’d brought from home, “Think he’ll be pissed I didn’t think to buy him dinner?”

“You really didn’t buy him anything?”

“Maybe there’s enough there for two,” the man said, curling some sauce-drenched noodles around his fork and slurping on them in a way that should have been messy and graceless but Randy still managed to make look sexy and elegant as he did, “Maybe not. I guess they just have to see, right?”

“Right…” John chuckled as he headed out of the room with the box.

Randy shook his head somewhat and returned to his food; even he could admit that years ago he never would have thought about people he didn’t know all that well when it came to getting food and bringing things along for his lover, but back then he’d never really done the whole more-than-meaningless sex thing until John had come along. John had changed him a lot and mostly for the better… although he cursed the man for every grey hair he encountered after something had happened to the other.

“Evan’s declared his intention to marry you, much to Chris’ upset,” John announced when he returned into the office, all but falling onto his food but attempting to not look like a pig at the same time. Not that Randy would have cared; he’d seen John dropping food down himself before, it wasn’t like back when they had first been dating and had tried overly hard to impress each other.

After all, how much could you really enjoy anything without getting messy?

~::~

“What do you mean you may take a plea-bargain?” John demanded, fist slamming onto the table.

Paul Hayman, a slimy, portly little man that looked like some kind of Native American (not that he was trying to insult them by the comparison) with the ponytail he still insisted on sporting even though he was balding like a badger on top, was the second lawyer that had been brought in to defend Morrison. Hayman had a sketchy reputation, professionally and otherwise at best, but he had an annoyingly decent track record in court as well.

“Now now detective, such hostility is unnecessary—”

“Don’t patronise me you jackass.”

“John,” Hunter arched a brow at him and John scowled before dropping back into his seat once again.

“As I was saying before Detective Cena so rudely interrupted—“Hayman’s smug smirk fell when he noticed the death-glare that John was sending him, hastily continuing instead, “My client, Mr Morrison, is willing to admit his guilt on all charges if you will show his wife some leniency.”

“And what kind of leniency is he expecting?” Hunter drawled before John could snap again.

“Life in prison but with the chance of parole in 20 years.”

“Fuck right off.”

“I could sue you for aggressive assault detective—!”

“Oh shut up Hayman,” Hunter growled before shaking his head, “Morrison and Melina are both aimed for life in prison without parole at minimum. Even without their confessions we have more than enough evidence on the pair of them.”

In his mind John reluctantly conceded that that was stretching the truth a little because they had way more on Melina than they did Morrison, especially with the recently taped interview that he and Chris had conducted with her. If he was to confess to everything and sentence was passed before they could show any of that… then Melina could easily play the tragic heroine who did her best to care for children that her misguided but loving husband had attempted to procure for them because they had never been able to have one themselves.

… Juries loved that kind of thing.

And Hayman was just the right type of sycophantic ass-bag who would probably be able to work enough spin-doctor magic to make it fly. Just the thought made John want to throw up all over the polished wood of his boss’ desk, and he sincerely doubted that hunter would thank him for that.

“We’re taking the case to court,” Hunter finally said after several long moments. “No deals; we have the evidence now, we know everything that happened; they both should just be glad the state doesn’t have a death-penalty.”

Hayman had turned an ugly shade of puce, scowling across at the Prosecutor who had been sitting otherwise silently up until that moment.

“And you’re fine with facing me in court?”

“Fine isn’t the word I’d use,” the deceptively young, barely outside childlike AJ Lee smiled in a fashion that could only be described as disturbing, “But I’m so looking forward to it.”

Hayman growled; it was one thing for someone to be challenging him, but everyone had heard about how he’d made an attempt on AJ when she had been newly inducted into a state law-firm when she’d first graduated law-school and she had turned the man down quite publically and without hesitation. Granted she had been forced to leave the firm, but once word of what happened got out there were more than enough people who had been willing to take on the little spitfire… and there she was, one of their youngest state prosecutors.

Rumour had it she was slightly mentally unstable… but who wasn’t a little unstable these days?

“You’re making the biggest mistake here,” Hayman declared as he snatched up his briefcase and flounced out of the office, “We’ll see you in court!” and then he slammed the door.

“Over-dramatic much?” Shawn drawled to Hunter who wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes, “Vince said he’s always been that way.”

“Chief Commissioner McMahon has dealt with him?”

“Oh yeah, Vince hates him. Look,” he was addressing AJ too now, “I know we have a good case, we’ve got the right evidence and testimony,” he shot John a look and he had the grace to look sheepish, “Admittedly some a little questionably, but can you make it stick AJ?”

“I’ll make it stick like glue,” the woman smiled, standing and gathering her things, then skipping out of the room to the incredulity of the men in the office and the others working outside of the office.

“She’s a fucking fruit-loop isn’t she?” 

“Yeah, a little bit…”

“But she’s a damned smart, fucking fruit-loop.”

“Are you sure she’s the right choice?”

“Against Hayman? I think she’s a great choice.”

John wasn’t sure whether he agreed with that assessment but he had to accept that if AJ wasn’t good at what she did she wouldn’t be at the rank she was at, and he had to trust the judgement of the higher-ups… but if Hayman brought along his protégé Charles Montgomery Punk (he had heard that’s what his name was, whether it was true or not he had no idea) then he hoped that she had some back-up of her own or a wicked performance up her sleeve; they just couldn’t let these two go.

~::~

John was looking forward to the bail hearing for his suspects. It would mean that he could stop questioning, have the assholes in jail where they belonged and then he could go home and get some sleep. He corrected himself quickly; he could do that after he went to the hospital and saw Cody. Today was the day they would be getting results back and finding out how Cody was going to be doing and there was no way John was going to miss that. He hadn’t been there as much as he would have liked as it was. But with that done, he intended to sleep for roughly eighteen hours, followed by a hot shower and then straight back to bed with the man he loved. And somewhere in there was going to be food as well, although he wasn’t sure exactly where that would be. Maybe if he could coax Randy into the shower he had planned then he could eat food in bed...?

His planning was interrupted as the courtroom became a flurry of activity again – bail hearings were like this, he knew from long experience. One was given an approximate time that the arguments would be heard and usually it ran about half an hour late, depending on what had happened in other hearings. This was slightly later than he would have liked but at least he should get to the hospital on time, assuming there were no shenanigans in other bail hearings.   
He slumped back into the pew when he realised it was someone completely different being escorted in by the guards, a case he hadn’t worked on. Damn, he wished they’d hurry up...

Just as the court was quieting, the doors at the back opened and Evan and Chris walked in. The judge gave them a long, rather annoyed look and then ignored them, getting back to the matter at hand, some kind of burglary as far as John could make out given that he was barely listening. Evan sat beside him, Chris on his far side and John grinned. “What’re you two doing here?” he whispered.

“I needed to see them getting denied bail for my own sense of ease,” said Evan grimly. 

“Yeah,” agreed Chris. “And I like to follow through on anything I worked on, even if it was only a little.”

John managed a slight smile at that. “Yeah, I know that one. I’m hoping they’ll be up next. They’re not getting seen together but with a little luck, the judge won’t be letting either one of them out.”

“Amen to that,” said Chris, craning his neck. “I don’t see AJ.”

“Uh, she’s up front. In the black suit.”

“Oh yeah.” Chris chuckled. “I barely recognise her from one day to the next. She likes to change the look around.”

“You should see her coming to the station when she doesn’t have court. She doesn’t look old enough to buy a pack of cigarettes. She gets stopped by someone who doesn’t know who she is at least once, every time.”

Chris laughed a little, under his breath to avoid the wrath of the judge. “What’s this judge like?”

“Hard to tell. Sometimes a hard-ass, but I’ve seen her grant bail once or twice when I thought it’d never happen.”

“Moody, great. Who’ve they got defending?”

“Melina has a woman called uh…” John wrinkled his nose a moment. “Vickie someone?”

“Guerrero?”

“That’s it. I’ve never been against her before, word is that she mostly does drug defence, dabbled in homicide but only the ones that’re really complicated. Like this one I suppose. I’ve never seen her in action, but neither of those are usually my beat. Have you?”

“Yeah. Three times she’s gotten involved with what should have been a dead-bang guilty verdict. Never gotten them off but managed to argue the jury to the lesser conviction every time. In one case all the way down to a misdemeanour with time served.” Chris screwed up his nose. “She’s so shrill. I think they let her get a little of her way just so they don’t have to listen to how much she’d carry on if she didn’t.”

“Wonderful.” John let out a sigh. “Morrison employed Heyman—“

“Oh god.”

“That’s what I said. And Heyman sees it as an opportunity for self-promotion, just for a change. Taken on some protégé to help him, only I can’t find out his damned name. Punk, that’s all I keep getting told and it’s not helpful—“

Evan coughed slightly. “Brooks, his real name is.”

John looked surprised – since Evan wasn’t typically on the front line of investigations it wasn’t like him to know anything about the people involved outside the police. “And what’s he like?”

Evan rolled his eyes, which told John plenty – Evan didn’t tend to get exasperated with anyone unless he was working with them. “Arrogant as hell. He honestly believes there’s no one better than him and if he loses at anything it’s because of something someone else did. Incompetent support or dirty tricks from the other side. But John…” Evan’s eyes were rather troubled. “He’s smart. Really smart. He’s able to get to people and charm one of them while the other one seethes. I’d bet that’d be the tactic with a jury, appealing to them while getting anyone he was getting someone on the stand to lose their temper with him and seem unreasonable. He got a great memory for little comments and discrepancies and I’d bet he can confuse the hell out of your witnesses.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “How do you know this?”

“I know him vaguely,” said Evan noncommittally. 

Chris didn’t ask anything else, interrupted when the defendant before them was granted bail and left the court smirking. John hoped that they’d have the rest of the conversation somewhere else. He liked the idea of the two of them being together and he hoped that Chris wasn’t about to pull a hissy fit over something trivial. He suspected if there was some kind of involvement in the past with Evan and this charlatan, it hadn’t gone particularly well. 

But there was one thing that puzzled him. 

“Why do they call him Punk then?” he asked as the court prepared for the next case. 

“He does stuff for the Straight-Edge movement under the pseudonym CM Punk,” Evan replied dryly. “Books, band reviews, magazine articles. Might help if we get AJ to check it out. She’ll at least get the measure of how he can be.”

“Next before the judge, People versus Morrison-Perez,” intoned the guard before John could say anything else. 

Melina was ushered in wearing cuffs, looking rather tired and bewildered although John wasn’t sure if he trusted her expression or if he thought it was entirely put on. She was a disturbed, troubled woman and he didn’t doubt there was some part of her that honestly thought she had nothing to defend herself for, but just because she was disturbed didn’t mean she wasn’t smart. She had to know that her best defence was to look like she wasn’t a danger to the community.

AJ rose and took her own place, beaming at the judge and looking about as threatening as a girl scout in spite of the power suit and her hair tied back. She was wearing glasses as well, but John hadn’t ever seen her in them around the station and wondered if they were just for show. 

“People request remand,” she said briskly. “This woman has proven herself quite able to evade police for a period of time and represents a clear danger to the public—“

“Excuse me!” Vickie gave AJ a rather haughty look. “I think what this girl fails to realise is that my client has no financial means and is willing to surrender her passport. She isn’t able to flee the country—“

“She’s fled jurisdictions before.”

“She would be more than willing to meet all bail conditions—“

“Her whereabouts aside, it’s not safe to have her out of jail.” AJ raised her voice slightly over Vickie. “She’s been charged with eight counts of kidnapping, one of attempted murder and police are just waiting for test results before she’s charged with two counts of child murder—“

“Objection, that’s irrelevant! My client has not been charged with those counts—“

“Yet.”

“And they shouldn’t be taken into account.” 

“Agreed,” said the judge. “Watch yourself Miss Lee.”

AJ nodded, although the tightening around her mouth suggested she didn’t like it much. “There are still a number of other charges that have been filed and between kidnapping, endangerment and attempted murder—“

“Which was nothing more than justifiable assault—“

“Oh, come on!”

“A man who broke into her house? Stalked and threatened a frightened woman? I call that justifiable.”

“That’s not—“

“That’s enough.” The judge sighed, looking down at the court. “I’ll set bail at five hundred thousand—“

“Your honour, that’s well beyond my clients means—“

“That’s my final decision, cash or bond.” The judge banged her gavel, ignoring Melina’s panicked questions about what that meant. “Next case.”

“People versus Morrison your honour.” 

As Melina was led from the courtroom, Morrison was brought in. John was very interested to see the looks exchanged between them – co-accused tended to shoot daggers at one another, blame one another for the whole thing. But Morrison gave his wife a supportive smile and after a moment Melina gave him a rather shaky one in return. Then she was gone and Morrison was led up to the stand.

“People request remand,” said AJ again. “This case is linked to the previous bail hearing and he’s also charged with the same crimes plus additional pending. Very serious crimes and he does have prior convictions—“

“Very minor misdemeanours,” added Heyman from beside his client and surprisingly didn’t add anything else. 

AJ shot Heyman and the men beside him a look of mild dislike and confusion. “He’s a clear danger to the community at large and should he make bail and his wife also make bail, I imagine they’ll be in hiding roughly five minutes later.”

“That’s not the case your honour.” The man beside Heyman spoke for the first time and John guessed this must be the mysterious protégé Punk. “Our client is anxious to give evidence at his wife’s trial and wants nothing more than her name to be cleared.”

The judge looked surprised. “Her name? Not his?”

“He’s accepting some wrongdoings,” replied Punk with a serious expression. “But certainly not to the scale of the trumped-up charges the prosecution are presenting. Our client is no danger to the community and a chance to have his day in court to present his side of the story.”

AJ seemed completely thrown by this and the judge stepped in before she could form an argument against it. “I’ll set bail at five hundred thousand here as well. And I look forward to hearing what you have to say to justify yourself and your wife young man.” She banged her gavel. “Next case!”

AJ shook her head. “Your honour—“

“That’s final Miss Lee and you’re pushing your luck. Next case!”

John exhaled deeply. “That’s not as good as I hoped.”

“Half a mill each?” Chris shrugged. “No way they’ll raise it and no one’s gonna help them out. I wouldn’t worry too much, they’ll be inside ‘til trial.”

“Yeah, and they’ve managed to put AJ off her stroke already.” John glanced at his watch and stood up. “I just hope this teaches her to be more careful. I’ve gotta run, I’ll see you boys once I get back to the station. In a few days.”

“Recovery time?” asked Evan teasingly. 

“You know it.” John gave the two a grin that showed off his dimples and headed out of the court.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Three: Unwelcome Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody has his latest check-up from Wade to see what his chances of walking again are. Meanwhile John receives unwelcome news and Chris is shocked when Evan reveals former links to Punk the defense lawyer.

Cody was restless. The books he’d been brought weren’t capturing his attention and even his hand-held console couldn’t seem to keep his mind off what was going on that day. It had been decided that the painkillers could be lessened enough that he could be allowed back some mobility…

If there was any mobility in him.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared. Terrified. No matter what Ted might say, he didn’t think that their relationship would be able to overcome such a hurdle, no matter how much they loved one another. Ted’s chaotic lifestyle may not allow him to stick around and Cody couldn’t imagine following him around, from state to state on buses and trains, when he was pushing himself along in a wheelchair. And even if he left Ted out of the equation, there was so much more of his life that would be affected. He’d have to get rid of the apartment he was so proud of, it was a safety risk when the elevator failed since he wouldn’t be able to take the stairs. He’d have to have a walk-in bath even though, ha-ha, he wouldn’t be walking into it. He’d have to have a car adapted, he couldn’t go for his brain-clearing walks with a book in his back pocket and his headphones on. He couldn’t even shop in his preferred comic-book shop because of the steps leading into the door. He’d have to buy some one-floor house with ramps on everything, become a recluse, do all his shopping and socialising and sex online and never, ever see anyone save for the man bringing his groceries. Forget the moustache he’d been debating, he could grow a full-on homeless beard and no one would laugh at it because no one would ever see him. 

He knew that he was being over-dramatic, sinking into depression, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. 

Ted was at his side the whole morning and although he tried to make conversation Cody couldn’t keep track and his replies grew increasingly monotone and pessimistic. Wisely, Ted didn’t try to lure him out of his mood, perhaps knowing that it was futile to try. When Cody’s parents turned up he simply fell into listening rather than talking, letting Cody’s mother talk. Filling in the conversational gaps seemed to be something of a nervous habit of hers and she at least kept them all from being infected with Cody’s despair. 

Randy showed up a little later and set immediately about charming Cody’s mother, apparently very interested in the stories she had to tell about Cody’s childhood. Some of the reminisces roused Cody from his sullen quiet long enough to protest her sharing them but it was almost as if he didn’t have the energy and Randy looked very amused by some of the tales. Cody had a feeling that he was going to be teased to hell and back about them, some weird form of Randy trying to cheer him up when Barrett pulled in the wheelchair. In his mind Cody could see a huge black contraption with giant pockets for him to keep his old-man things, wheels that would shred his perfectly cared for hands and were stiff enough that he would struggle to push it anywhere. And he’d sit within it, made smaller by its size, unable to keep up with the pace of life. 

It was almost the hour Barrett had said he’d be by when John arrived, looking like he’d run all from the car and rather surprisingly in a suit. He explained that he’d been ‘at a bail hearing’ and although there were interested looks from most people in the room, Cody was too bleak to even make the connection. Not that John had the time to tell them what had happening in court; Wade showed up only a minute or two and started to usher the visitors out of the room. 

“Dr Barrett—“Cody said suddenly and rather impulsively, looking at him almost pleadingly. “Uh, can – can Ted stay?”

Wade looked at Ted and then back at Cody. “I don’t see why not, as long as he keeps quiet while I’m working. But no one else, otherwise I don’t have the room to work.”

There was a flurry of activity as the others left and Wade closed the door firmly behind them, pulling down the shade. Mrs Rhodes tried to look around it and then gave up, turning with a sigh and putting her hands on her hips. “Well. When a boy wants his boyfriend with him rather than his mother when he’s not well, that’s a sign he’s in love.”

“I still want my mother instead,” replied Randy with a smile. “I wouldn’t like John to see me red-nosed and irritable. It might put him off me.”

“You’re always irritable,” John pointed out, elbowing Randy, although the joking seemed a little perfunctory. No one could be really carefree until they knew what the outcome was. 

Inside the room, Wade turned to Cody with a smile, noting that Ted was sat back in his customary chair holding the patients hand but otherwise not asking any questions though he seemed a little pale. That might be due to a lack of any real sleep and food, although Ted had once or twice implied that wasn’t a new phenomenon in his life. Cody looked like a deer trapped in headlights and Wade could relate. There were some people who initially saw any mobility problem as if they were birds with their wings clipped, until they got used to it at least. 

“How’s your back feeling?” he asked. 

Cody shrugged. “I can feel it. Aches like hell, and the scar where you chopped me open.”

“That means it’s healing.” Wade let the old half-truth trip off his tongue as he did a series of checks on Cody’s chart, comparing blood pressure before putting it away and starting on Cody himself, pulling back the blanket and carefully taking hold of his foot. 

“That tickles,” Cody complained. “Aren’t you the big-shot surgeon anyway? I didn’t think you’d be doing the updates.”

“I’ve got a vested interest,” replied Wade, pressing a couple of spots on Cody’s ankle. “Need to check how I did, otherwise I wouldn’t. Trust me, your feet are no picnic.” He repeated the same thing on Cody’s other foot and then took out a small instrument that looked like a hammer, much to Cody’s indignation. 

“I thought that was just in the cartoons they used those!”

“I can do the check with a biro if I need to but hell, this usually gives the patient a laugh.” Wade tapped Cody’s knee with it and then the other, looking strangely enough at Cody’s feet rather than his legs. 

“Is this the part where I kick you in the face?” asked Cody.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” replied Wade distractedly, taking hold of one of Cody’s legs and raising it, pretending he didn’t see Ted frowning. 

“What’re you doing down there?” asked Cody, trying to crane over to look. “Shaving my legs?”

“Surely you don’t shave your legs.”

“Nah, course not,” said Cody unconvincingly. 

“Only there’s a shaving nick down here—“

“But I’m so careful!”

Wade smirked and without warning let go of Cody’s leg. Cody’s face turned into a grimace and he half-sat, trying to reach for his leg unsuccessfully. 

“Fuck!” he roared, his leg going down to the bed slightly too fast. Once it was lying flat Cody pressed himself back into the pillows, beads of sweat standing out on his forehead. “That fucking hurt, what the fuck did you think you were doing?”

Ted half-rose, seeming uncertain if he should shout at Wade or attend to Cody. But Wade didn’t seem too fazed. “You controlled your leg enough to not let it just slam back onto the bed, you can feel pain from the muscles that move them. Pain isn’t great, that means rehab, but on the other hand pain is great because it means you should recover a vast percentage of your mobility, if not all of it.”

Cody stared at him for a moment, his mouth working with no sound coming out as he struggled to process the news. “But – you knew that from the tests! Couldn’t you have just told me?”

“Would you have really believed me?” Wade shrugged. “Anyway, I learned to work in the National Health Service in Britain. We’re not paid for our bedside manners there.”

Cody’s face twitched into a smile. “I don’t know whether to hug you or punch you.”

“I don’t mind which you do as long as you get up on your feet to do it.” Wade reached for the chart and scribbled some notes before hanging it back up. “I’ll go organise some physio for you. Try and get some rest and stop sulking. You’ll walk again, probably sooner than you think if not as easily.”

Wade turned and walked from the room. Ted and Cody watched him, stunned into immobility for a moment, then Ted rushed forward to try to catch up with him, give him some thanks. But he was stopped when Dusty got in his way as he walked into the room. The rest of the crowd were behind him and Ted gave up on trying to catch Wade, determined to speak with him later on. 

~::~

“Wade?”

“Mr DiBiase,” Wade looked up from the clipboard he had in hand, a cup of instant coffee in the other.

“Please, call me Ted… call me Mr DiBiase and I’ll keep turning around thinking my dad’s here,” and even now he still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the fact that his old man had travelled down. Or that he had found out that Ted actually had a boyfriend because said boyfriend had been shot and put in the hospital. He’d received quite the ear-chewing for that when he and his dad had had some private time together after they’d left the Rhodes together for some time (he still didn’t like the fact Layla was there even if she was seemingly Cody’s closest friend) but apparently the telling-off from his dad was nothing compared to what his mother was going to put him through the next time he went home.

Which had been be sooner rather than later if he knew what was good for him.

“I see,” even though his joke was weak Wade chuckled and Ted appreciated that; he was still feeling a little numb from the knowledge that Cody was going to be OK (he had been determinedly telling himself that as much as he had his partner, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been preparing for a worst-case scenario in case) and so he hoped that any faux-pas of ‘thick moments’ would be excused by the medical man, “What can I do for you Ted?”

“Actually… I just wanted to thank you.”

“It’s my job, there’s no—”

“No, I’m sorry but… no. There is a need to say thank you, because without you Cody would probably never recover,” and he was pretty sure that he didn’t have to spell out that he didn’t just mean in the physical sense. “I…” he exhaled, scrubbed his hands over his face and then straightened up, squaring his shoulders; even if he embarrassed himself or Wade by being overly sentimental he was going to say what he needed to say both for his sake and to impress upon the doctor how much he meant it, “I love Cody. I never… never expected, or thought, that I would ever feel this way about another person. I… Despite what some people think I don’t see myself as a good person; I’m messed up and have so many problems I’d probably give a psychiatrist a mental breakdown—“Wade looked as though he wanted to interrupt but then seemed to restrain himself, merely giving the smallest of nods to let Ted know that he could continue and he still had his attention. “But Cody… aside from Randy he’s the first person to accept me, to really get to know me and still wanted to be around me. Cody… isn’t embarrassed or afraid to be around me. Granted he has his own baggage but… he’s a brilliant, amazing person and he taught me what it means to care about myself and the life I have and what I can do with it. Him walking or not wouldn’t have changed my feelings for him, but I know he would have changed his towards me, if only for my sake—“knowing Cody as he did by that point he didn’t doubt that he would probably try and call time on their relationship because he didn’t want to see himself as somehow trapping Ted or dragging him down. It was ridiculous of course but he couldn’t fault the man for thinking that way. “But you saved him, and I don’t mean his life in the typical sense. You… you worked a miracle, Wade, and I know I’ll never be able to repay you,” he extended a hand out towards the doctor, “So all I can do is shake your hand and tell you thank you.”

Looking genuinely as though he had been knocked for six Wade needed a moment to catch up with the moment before shaking Ted’s hand with a grasp that the blonde suspected was much looser than he would normally use because he was in such a state of shock thanks to Ted’s declaration, “Really… It’s what I do; I help people because I want to,” he smiled slightly, “I’m not naïve enough to think I can save everyone and change the world,” not like he had back when he’d been a much younger, inexperienced and idealistic young man, “But to see people smile again, to know that someone appreciates what I do… it makes it worthwhile. Much obliged.”

Clearing his throat awkwardly Ted then grinned sheepishly and released Wade’s hand, “Can I maybe buy you a coffee or something?” a small token gesture but he was pretty sure if he went and actually brought something that it would probably be construed as some sort of conflict of interest and he was likely to be denied.

“Maybe later, thank you, I’m sure I’ll take you up on it.”

“Shame you can’t get coffee in the drips aye?” Ted joked as they started down the hallway together.

“Tell me about it,” Wade chuckled, “I’d be permanently hooked up to the IV if that was the case.”

“It must be rough sometimes…” doing major operations numerous times a day probably with little rest in between and little rest around it; he’d quickly picked up from John how overworked those of the public sectors could be.

“Rough doesn’t cover it…” a slight smile then touched his lips as he caught sight of something that was apparently gone by the time Ted turned to see, “But having someone there to keep you going sure does help.”

~::~

“They were granted bail.”

The sheer disbelief in Randy’s tone made John smile wearily as he dropped his briefcase to the ground, kicked off his shoes and entered the flat properly once he arrived home some hours later. He was sweaty, stiff from being all but chained to his desk filling in form after form after the bail hearing, tired from the late-shifts and emotional toll he’d been subjected to… and, on top of all that, he was hungry.

“Can we talk about this after dinner?” he asked with a mild plea in his voice, wishing almost that he hadn’t mentioned to Randy through text what had happened briefly beforehand when they had had Perez/Morrison up before the courts.

A softer sort of smile crossed Randy’s face then and he held up a hand, indicating John should wait. Confusedly the brunette looked around, rather stupidly since he didn’t know what he was looking for, or why he even thought he was looking for something, but moments later (with quite a spooky bit of timing) came a firm but swift knock on the door.

“Way ahead of you babe; go and grab a shower alright? I’ll get everything dished up.”

“I love you.”

“Damn right you do,” Randy pecked his partner’s lips briefly, “I love you too, but you stink--- get your ass in there.”

Chuckling lightly John did as he was bid and headed towards the bathroom, stripping off his shirt as he went, Randy opening the door only when he was sure that his lover was out of sight; statistically the delivery boy was probably straight, but John semi-naked was likely enough to tempt someone over to their side of the field even if they weren’t usually.

And no he wasn’t being silly.

“Thanks man.”

“No problem Mr Orton, thanks for the continued patronage.”

“Keep feeding us like this and we’ll be using you when we’re on the pension,” Randy chuckled, handing over money and a tip, the boy tipping his cap to him before then heading off.

About ten minutes later he and John were sitting before the TV, almost as though it was any other night, dinner on trays on their knees and cold beers sitting in front of them on the coffee-table. Most people might consider something being ‘the same as any other night’ as boring or mundane, but to John it was the most relaxing and blissful thing that he had experienced in what felt like twenty-years.

He’d be glad when this trial was over and everything was put to rest for good.

~::~

“Well… I’m a little disappointed with that turn out,” Chris admitted.

Evan looked mildly amused as he leant against the wall to check his phone, he and Chris having emerged from the courthouse not long after John had, “You wanted more people to come?” he teased.

Chris poked the techie’s cheek and stuck his tongue out, “No, smart arse; I mean with the fact that they were even granted bail.”

A small frown touched Evan’s lips, “But I thought you said there was no way in hell they’d make it.”

“And unless they have a hidden fortune somewhere or rich parents they won’t be…” he scowled, “But that doesn’t mean I like the fact they have an option. I agree; a pair like that they’re gonna do one as soon as they can manage it and we’ll probably never see them again. And then that means they won’t be punished for what they did to those kids…” and considering the high chance of physical and psychological damage that the tests might come back showing on them he thought they deserved whatever the hell the full extent of the law could give them since vigilante justice was frowned upon.

Reaching, Evan squeezed Chris’ shoulder gently, “John won’t let them get away with this,” he said comfortingly, “And I’ll have my team working top notch same as usual; anything forensically that we can have then we’ll have it. And AJ…” he trailed off because he knew he hadn’t been exactly supportive of AJ in the past only because he thought her behaviour wasn’t befitting a DA, but even he couldn’t deny that she had the skills in court, “As long as we don’t have that judge and she minds her etiquette then we’ll be home free.”

“That optimistic confidence was always so lovable about you, luckily you’re cute enough to pull off gullible.”

Immediately Chris whipped around when he heard the newcomer speak and immediately felt his hackles rise; wearing a blazer and dark pants he seemed smart enough, but the garish band t-shirt underneath was a huge giveaway (Chris had been shocked he’d even been allowed past the public galley dressed that way) that he’d noticed the moment the man had walked into the room to begin the hearing alongside Guerrero and Heyman. However, it was Evan’s reaction that had him more concerned; his fast went a strange shade of puce and then an almost chalky white before settling into a colour that was slightly paler than usual even with his well up-kept tan.

“I see you’re still looking down on people with the same ego you ever had.”

Punk smiled, lip ring glinting in the bright sunlight, “No offence baby, but it’s kinda hard not to look down on you.”

Evan’s cheeks went red this time, definite tension lining his jaw although Chris could all but see the effort he was using to keep himself from otherwise physically responding to what seemed to be a familiar taunt. And didn’t Chris not like where that particular thought could possibly lead him. Of course there was every chance that he was jumping to conclusions but he hadn’t been working with people and solving puzzles (essentially) for as long as he had not to be able to ascertain more than the outward situation might tell him.

“Man has wit,” Chris cut in dryly before Evan could flounder to defend himself, “I guess that should make the trial all the more amusing… though nothing can be funnier than you lot thinking you can get those two sickos off.”

Punk’s smile slipped and his eyes narrowed, Evan mentally wincing when the two men seemed to square up to one another in the same moment; they were both taller than him by a few inches but honestly speaking he didn’t think there much between them except that Punk had a slightly svelte figure whereas Chris had a somewhat stronger chest shape and broader shoulders.

“And its queried why people dislike law enforcement. You’re supposed to be helping people?”

“I help the people; you help the parasites who hurt the people.”

“I don’t remember seeing you as part of the main police force that was dealing with the case,” Punk said, brow arching and Chris shrugged in a deliberately nonchalant way that Evan knew would irk the hell out of Punk; even when they had been younger the man could never handle being dismissed by people. He didn’t know if what Punk was like could be classified as an inferiority complex but he was pretty damned sure that it had to be some variation of it and the whole inflated-sense-of-grandeur thing.

“I have a vested interested; I was there when your client was caught trying to flee, had attempted to fool us by using his wife as a hostage, and had put a bullet-hole through a young man’s stomach after they drugged and abducted him the same way they drugged and abducted those children!”

The blonde policeman and the up-and-coming lawyer were all but nose-to-nose by this point and Evan shot a quick look around; the situation was getting tense and he knew that if they didn’t mind themselves then the next time that they were at a bail hearing it could potentially be for themselves.

“I should sue you for slander right here—”

“Go ahead, see how far you get—”

“Stop it!” Evan wedged himself between the two men, back to Chris and hands pressed in front of Punk’s chest, “Stop it the pair of you!”

What happened next Evan couldn’t have anticipated in a million years, even considering all of the potential facts and scenario outcomes.

Punk kissed him.

Granted it was a brief, relatively chaste contact, but a kiss was still a kiss--- and when the man who was all but his boyfriend was standing mere millimetres behind him he had never felt so guilty and actually rather violated in all of his life.

“Alright, since you asked so nicely,” he shoved his hands in his pockets and started to saunter away, still smirking like the devil at the enraged Canadian and the stunned Missouri native, “But you owe me, Evan, and I’ll come to collect pretty soon. I don’t think this case will take long after all.”

~::~

It was probably lucky for Punk that he had taken everyone so thoroughly by surprise; by the time it occurred to Evan to object physically or for Chris to lay in with his fists (which would have sent the entire case all the way to hell no doubt) Punk had already gone. Chris hadn’t exactly been thrilled with the hint that Evan had been involved with Punk back at some point but he hadn’t really thought it was any of his business and there would come time when the bare details came up in conversation. Now it seemed that whatever had happened in the past was encroaching on a present they had barely begun making. 

“What the hell was that?” he asked in tones of low menace. 

Evan shook his head, his cheeks fiery. “That’s what I call past mistakes coming back to bite me in the ass at the worst possible time.”

Chris tried to put aside any and all thoughts that combined Punk’s teeth and Evan’s ass. “Do tell.”

“It’s embarrassing—“

“Probably and most of the time I’d – well, I’d wanna know anyway after that little show. But we’re gonna have to know in any case, because if AJ gets you on the stand and he manages to fluster you, it’s gonna be a real problem and everyone’s gonna know. So what happened?”

Evan’s shoulders sagged. “I went on a couple of dates with him a long time ago.”

“And that’s it? Because he certainly seemed to know you a lot better than a couple of dates.” Chris was well aware that he sounded petulant and jealous and he couldn’t seem to help himself. 

“I was just starting at college and everyone I knew seemed to only be interested in partying and drinking and getting laid,” said Evan, his eyes flashing with something close to anger. Chris simply watched blankly. As far as he had been concerned at the same age, that was pretty much the whole reason for the first year at college. “It got old fast and I started looking for a new crowd, when I wasn’t studying. I ended up meeting Punk. Straight edge, seemed to be supportive, smart, fun. I was stupid and feeling kinda isolated, okay? It took me a while to realise the observations were nothing more than being cruel in a clever way and that he thought he was better than everyone else he met. Better than me. I don’t know how it happens, but I know I wasn’t the only one who ended up feeling completely worthless around him and spent far too much time seeking his approval. If you got it that was the best feeling in the world but if someone else was in favour then you hated them and tried harder to make him happy. Only he never was. It was like being a pet, some kind of dog, slinking around with your tail down most of the time and then getting g euphoric over even the slightest bit of affection.”

“And you ended up dating this guy?”

“Like I said, not for long. It was the dating part that made everything come to a head actually. One thing Punk never has been is shy about telling people what he thinks of them to their faces. But so many people think he’s joking or it’s some weird form of friendship. It was when we weren’t around the rest of the crowd that I realised he really did think that way and he tore them apart just as much behind their backs as well. There was that, there was a few of my old friends saying it was like I was a different person now and one they weren’t sure they liked. And there was me getting to be just as judgemental as he was even when he wasn’t around, because that was what he would have thought. I ended up taking a huge step back – I asked my brothers if they wanted to go camping one week, really short notice but I think they got there was something weird going on with me. And while I was away I kinda got my head back together and realised I had no idea why I was going out of my way to make him happy. I didn’t even like him very much and I knew it, but it seemed important. That’s what I meant by charismatic. You think he’s an asshole, you think he’s talking bullshit and yet you can’t seem to disagree or find an argument. And he knows exactly what comments are gonna strike a chord.”

“How did he take it when you said you weren’t interested anymore?” asked Chris briskly. 

“Uh... the thing is, I didn’t really. Tell him that is. I mean, I got back and I just didn’t call. I decided I was done chasing and putting myself out so I decided that I’d just wait for him to call and demand and audience and then tell him I wasn’t interested anymore and leave it at that. So I didn’t call but neither did he. I saw him around a few times but I never really talked to him very much after that camping trip. I think he realised what decision I’d come to and didn’t want to give me the satisfaction. He’s like that.”

Chris exhaled. “And now he’s playing on that?”

“I told you, I was only a kid at the time still!” Evan ran a hand through his hair, frown on his face. “I could hardly have seen this coming.” He looked at the floor. “Uh, how pissed about this are you?”

“About him thinking that was okay?” Chris clenched his fists and forced himself to unclench them again. “Incredibly pissed. And I’m gonna make damned sure that it never happens again.”

“I can’t help that I used to—“

“Yeah, I know,” said Chris, rather taking Evan aback. “Everyone’s got a past, everyone makes mistakes and I’m hardly gonna judge you for dating an asshole years ago. Even if he is back. He can just back off.”

Evan gave a rather disbelieving smile – it wasn’t cool he knew, but he rather liked the idea that Chris was ready to stake a claim and hadn’t thought badly (or at least, not too badly) of him for those days. He hadn’t said to Chris that he hadn’t felt like he even knew himself sometimes back then, that he had lost sight of what he thought and had somehow become an extension of Punk, the same uncharitable thoughts and high-and-mighty attitude. He didn’t intend to share those details either. He had never become embroiled in another person to the extent that he lost sight of himself since and no matter what happened with Chris, he didn’t intend to again and it was almost humiliating to recall that weakness. But before he could say anything else or change the subject he heard a call and when the pair turned, they saw that AJ had emerged from the courthouse and was heading their way, surprisingly quickly in killer heels. In spite of the suit, there was something about her that suggested she’d be all the more comfortable in converse. 

“Any chance we could go back to the lab together and I could pick up the DNA reports you have?” she asked hopefully. “I really, really wanna nail these guys.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” replied Evan rather grimly. 

“Yeah, you saw those kids once they were out of the house,” said AJ thoughtfully, not mentioning the bodies in the shed – that hadn’t been Evan’s job, although he did have to run their DNA and other things found with the bodies. “Must be personal for you both.”

“In more ways than one,” said Evan grimly. “You’re getting a headstart, just let me know anything I can do to help.”

“Thanks.” AJ sighed, her briefcase dangling loosely from one hand. “I can’t lose this case to that cow Vickie – she’s always being condescending to me in court, like I’m a five year old or something, she gloats when she’s getting the upper hand and tries to discredit me when she’s not. And I can’t lost to Heyman. And I really can’t lose to Punk. This case, it’s like someone Up There decided to put together all my least favourite things and wrap them up in one messy, public media frenzy.”

Evan frowned. “How do you know Punk?”

“Oh, I dated him a while ago...” She stopped, noticing the look on their faces. “What? I’m single! I can date who I like!”

“Of course,” Evan assured her. “I just wondered, why? He doesn’t seem like your type.”

“Well... I’d just come out of something bad and he seemed different. Intense but in a different way. Considerate. Chivalrous in a way, like he’d look after me. A bit of an old-fashioned gentleman...” She smirked when she saw the looks of disbelief levelled at her. “I know, I know. Didn’t last long anyway. I had my eye on someone else and then he called me – well. He called me crazy, can you believe it?”

“No!” said Chris, feigning shock. 

“I told him at the time, it’s his own fault and he should have expected that kinda thing, if he wanted to wear a lip ring and make out. And I’m the one who had to check the bowl every morning for a week to make sure it passed through me and didn’t get stuck in my uterus or something—“

“AJ, please.” Chris held a hand up. “You keep saying things I can’t unhear.”

“And it couldn’t have gotten to your uterus if it was taken orally—“ Evan decided that was another mental image he didn’t need and changed track, before he ended up with things he couldn’t unthink. “In any case, you’re too good for him.”

“You’re such a sweetheart.” AJ leaned forward before Evan could protest and kissed his lips, the action apparently friendly but somehow managing to be less chaste than the one that Punk had laid on him. He didn’t dare to look at Chris and when AJ leaned away, her smile was quickly overtaken with a look of disappointment. “What? What was wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” Evan assured her quickly, but he knew he was still looking downcast. “It’s just that you’re the second person to kiss me today and the one person I was hoping was gonna kiss me still hasn’t.”

Chris grabbed his hand possessively. “Let’s get the hell outta here. The sooner we do, the sooner we can remedy it.”


	25. Chapter Twenty-Four: Money Is No Object

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade approaches Cody about therapy programs and the question of money yields some surprising results. Meanwhile as AJ et al are preparing for the Morrison/Morrison trial, Ted moves in with John and Randy-- and both men ask him for his opinion on an unexpected matter.

“Looks like you’ve got a choice to make,” said Wade as he entered Cody’s room. 

Cody looked up, a little warily. He was alone for once; he’d persuaded Ted to go back to the hotel and take a long sleep and although Ted had argued the toss, Ted senior had been behind Cody on this one. It had been three hours and Cody expected that Ted was dead to the world, in the bed that they had recently shared. Or perhaps Senior had booked him a room back at whatever grand place he was staying in. It didn’t matter really, all Cody cared about was that Ted was actually resting rather than snatching an hour or so on the horrifically uncomfortable plastic chairs that the hospital provided. Randy and John weren’t there either and Cody just bet that Randy was looking after John, who had been spending plenty of time on the case. At least, he hoped that was what Randy was doing and John hadn’t gone back into the station in spite of his assertions that he wouldn’t. Dusty had taken his wife to go and get Cody some necessities and Cody thought that although his list had been mostly books, his mother would insist on buying him something to wear out of the hospital. And Layla was dealing with his professional issues, namely that he was almost three thousand words behind and his deadline was that day. He was glad that they were taking care of themselves and grateful they were taking care of him, and it was nice to have a few minutes alone. But he was missing Ted the most of all and felt rather selfish hoping the man would be back before the end of visiting hours. 

“What choice am I looking at Doc?” asked Cody breezily. “Because if you need to cut anything off, I’d rather it was a leg than anything else in that area.”

Wade chuckled. “Not quite what I meant. I wanted to talk to you about your recovery actually, while you were alone.”

Cody raised his eyebrows. “Should I be worried?”

“Not at all. To the contrary, you’re recovering nicely. I’d like to keep you in a few more days but after that you’ll be allowed to be discharged.”

“But...” Cody glanced down at his legs. “You said I had response in my legs but I’m still not walking. Hell, I’m still not allowed to piss solo! How am I supposed to be discharged and get on with things?”

“You’re going to need some rehab,” replied Wade. “That’s where your choice comes in. I’ve been looking into it and I’ve found some excellent facilities in different areas. It’s up to you to choose which is best.”

“You’re very hands on for a surgeon,” commented Cody. 

“You’re an advertisement for how good I am. It’s in my best interests to make sure that you recover as well as you’re able.” Wade checked out the clipboard he’d brought with him. “I’ve printed you some details off the internet and I’d like you to check them out at your leisure, since it’s a big decision. But I’ll give you the overview. You give your home address in Georgia, so I’ve got the details of a place there. Two places actually, there’s one very close to your parents house and the other is more central to yours.”

“My parents?”

“It’s probable that you’d need to be supported once you’re discharged from here,” said Wade severely. “This isn’t a case of rolling in and walking out. It’s gonna be hard work. Both these facilities in Georgia are residential—“

“I’d have to live there?”

“You wouldn’t have to, although the option’s there. Remember, for a little while at least you’ll be on crutches in a best-case scenario and in a wheelchair more likely, certainly for the first week or two. I have no idea if your home is equip for that so I have to look into all options.”

“I know,” sighed Cody, leaning back against the pillows. “Thank you.”

But he was thinking about Ted, how close they’d become and how Ted hadn’t been in the same place for more than two years at a time since he was sixteen. Would he be willing to go to Georgia while his new boyfriend recovered? Would he even be able?

“Then there’s a place in Florida—“

“Florida?” 

“I know you don’t live anywhere near there, but this facility is within a reasonable driving distance of the address of your fathers friend, Mr DiBiase and he already said when I mentioned facilities that this one was reputable and you would have whatever support he and his family were able to give you while you were there.”

Cody’s mind started working overtime. If Ted Senior had offered, then maybe he was hoping that Ted would go with Cody but Cody wasn’t about to start looking at the why. The point was that Ted might be more likely to stay beside him if he was in Florida and Ted could go home to the family mansion every night. And it might be nice to know something about Ted’s early life. It was so easy to see Ted as a transient who just happened to have some expensive gadgets and didn’t hurt for money even if he preferred to make his own where he could. 

“I see,” Cody said slowly. 

Wade nodded. “The last choice is a facility here, in St Louis. I know that you have a support network here, although not family – not that I’m not sure your mother won’t remain, she’s terribly concerned. And I know that you probably weren’t planning on staying, but I need to mention it for the sake of completeness and because I’m not sure that you’d want to move out of the area in your condition, certainly not initially. If you feel up to it then I can check you over and okay it and while it might mean a flight, we can arrange something. The choice, as I said, is entirely yours and depends on where you feel you’d be comfortable getting more mobile. All the facilities offer both residential and outpatient care so you could make your mind up there. And from what I’ve seen, they all have excellent reputations. Although maybe the Florida one is a little better funded.”

“Speaking of funded.” Cody readjusted his position, hoping he didn’t look like he was stalling before he asked the awkward question. “Uh, how much of that will my insurance cover? It’s all very well saying I could be here or there, but it all really depends on how much it’s gonna set me back and how much my insurance will cover me for.”

Wade frowned. “I’ve no idea how much your insurance will cover you for. Your bills are paid.”

“No way!” Cody stared at Wade in disbelief. “I didn’t authorise that!”

“Maybe not, but I can tell you that the cost of any and all surgeries were met the moment you were brought in.” Wade smiled a little. “I believe the man who paid for it threw a credit card at the receptionist screaming, just take the whole trust fund!”

Cody closed his eyes. “Ted.”

“I don’t know,” replied Wade blandly. “You’d have to ask him. I can tell you that the surgery doesn’t take the whole trust fund however and the cost of your rehabilitation has been met by someone else.”

“Not my parents? They couldn’t cover this kinda thing.”

“Whether or not they could, it seems you have friends with deep pockets. Money is no object Cody and if you choose a residential facility in the Bahamas for the next two years, the costs are covered. You don’t have to worry about it. “

Cody exhaled. “I’m not sure I like this. If it’s not Ted, then I know who and it’s his dad. I don’t need their charity—“

“You shouldn’t look upon it as charity.” Wade’s voice was so severe that Cody stilled, looking up at the Englishman. 

Wade took a deep breath but continued. “I did a nine-hour surgery before I came here, so I might be a little light-headed. Or maybe because this whole idea of paying for hospital care is out of my experience, since I grew up in England and if you’re ill, it doesn’t matter how rich you are before you get treated. But you should know a few things. Ted, your friend Ted, is the most relieved man I’ve ever seen post-surgery. Discounting those whose children are seriously injured, I’ve never seen anyone so afraid, or so relieved. I think he would do anything to see you well again and it’s nothing to do with charity. And I’ve seen his father too and I’m sure that he doesn’t see it as charity either. That’s a man who’s worried about his own son and sees you as someone who helps him. He might be a friend of your fathers, at least it seems that way from how I first saw them, but it’s his son he’s mostly thinking about. That kind of man, if you mean everything to his son then you’re incredibly important to him. And if he can do something to help, like putting his money where it matters, then he will. Don’t see it as a hand-out. See it for what it is, a true expression of gratitude.”

Cody simply stared and Wade gave a slightly embarrassed shrug. “I see a lot around here. I pick up on things. Take the help Cody, just decide on where you’re best of doing your rehab. I can tell you myself that the rehab given here in St Louis is fantastic and although I can’t tell you personally about the others, I can’t see that they won’t be equally good. Here, take the printouts and think about it.”

Cody reached out and took the prints without comment. Wade gave a little smile. “I’m going home to get some sleep but I’ll keep on checking on you while you’re here.”

“And that’s solely because you’re making sure of your reputation, like you said.” Cody kept hold of the printouts, but he didn’t take his eyes off Wade. “Thank you.”

Wade nodded gravely. “My pleasure,” he replied before leaving the room. 

~::~

When Ted arrived the following day to see Cody the smile he had had on his face dropped swiftly when he noticed the look on his boyfriend’s.

“Is something wrong?”

“Can you close the door please?”

Sense of foreboding growing Ted did as he was bid, the freshly showered and shaved blonde then sitting down on the chair at Cody’s side; Cody almost couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Ted in clothing that wasn’t creased and rumpled, either through being thrown on without care or from being slept in when he had insisted at remaining at Cody’s side until his dad had come along and forced him out of there.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… Well, something. But it’s not wrong, kinda…” Cody’s hands clenched into fists atop the bedcovers, face screwing up in a manner that showed he was frustrated with how his words were coming out; as an author he could only imagine how frustrated Cody felt with himself when he couldn’t get what he thought into the open as clearly when he said it.

“Code…” Ted reached for his lover’s hand, feeling a mild measure of relief when Cody didn’t pull away; given the tension he could feel emanating from the man he wouldn’t have been surprised if he would have done so. “Talk to me, please?”

Looking down at the strong hand laced so comfortably with his own Cody felt a lump of emotion clog up his throat as though he’d swallowed a baseball; what had he done to deserve someone like Ted? Certainly it had been far from immediate smooth-sailing and he’d been put through the wringer starting to work through some of Ted’s (and his own) respective issues to get them to the relationship point they had now, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. OK, maybe he would have preferred not to have had a hole blasted through his gut but there was only so much you could ask for right?

“You paid for my hospital fees, right?”

Ted bit his lip; it had never occurred to him that money might be an issue, but it didn’t take a genius to put the question and tone together and get an answer that said that Cody was not pleased with something right then. Swallowing and licking his dry lips to wet them Ted then gently squeezed Cody’s hand, keeping his gaze on the darker man even though Cody’s own eyes continued to be fixed down on their joined hands, “I did. And I’m sorry if you feel that I overstepped my boundaries but I’m not going to apologise for it. I… I could have lost you, Cody,” he cleared his throat, eyes feeling suspiciously watery as he continued, “I mean, fuck, I had a conversation with your spirit back at the house. For a minute there you died on me. You were going to leave me behind and dammit I was pretty damned mad about that, but when you went back… I didn’t care if it cost every penny I had to my name, every possession I can call my own, as long as you had the best care, as long as you were OK.”

“Was it a lot of money?”

“That doesn’t matter—”

“So it was—”

“Cody!” Ted stood up then, moving closer to Cody and grasping his boyfriend’s chin in his other hand and turning his head to face him. Cody’s stomach dropped when he noticed a few tears gathering in Ted’s eyes, finger coming up to brush away one that escaped as guilt gnawed at him; Wade had been right, he could see that now, what Ted (and undoubtedly as he’d admit soon his father) had done had nothing to do with charity. Ted had acted because he loved him, and Ted Sr. had acted because his precious son loved him, and maybe perhaps even slightly due to some level of obligation to old ties with his father, but that probably had very little to do with it. “I’d sooner live penniless on a street corner with little more than a cardboard box for a home than go on knowing that something happened to you in hospital because you couldn’t meet the bills.”

Unfortunately in their country that was a given; the better your insurance the better your care, and if you didn’t have insurance? Then woe-betide you.

“And your dad?” he mumbled, hand cupping Ted’s cheek as the other continued to hold one of his hands and keep hold of his chin.

“I didn’t know he was going to do that… I just said that I’d cover it.”

“And he stepped in?”

“He has a tendency to do that,” Ted said with a small smile; his home-life might not have been always great thanks to his particular gifts but now more than ever he couldn’t doubt that his father loved him even despite everything.

“I’ll probably never be able to pay you back,” Cody mumbled; even on the salary and commission he received from his best-selling books combined wouldn’t even begin to cover the sum that Cody had worked out in his head depending on whichever clinic he chose.

“You can pay me back,” Ted said simply, “By letting yourself get better, take the time to get better. And let me be there when it happens,” this final part was said with a dogged determination that told Cody even if he protested he wasn’t going to hear any opposing view to the one he wanted. “And my dad? Well… this is pittance to him,” it sounded arrogant but it’s true, “Just be there with me,” Ted’s throat convulsed and had the moment not been so important he would have laughed at himself for how sentimental he had become (how openly sentimental anyway) since falling in love with the younger man, “Come to dinner with my family, smile and hold my hand and laugh at bad jokes my dad makes and sit through embarrassing anecdotes of my childhood mum goes on about…”

“Depending on how soon you want dinner to happen,” Cody started lightly, “I may still be in a wheelchair or crutches.”

Ted didn’t seem to understand for a moment and then he quirked a small smile, “Baby, if I have to carry you everywhere that’s cool with me too.”

Leaning up as much as he was able Cody met Ted halfway, kissing the blonde man with as much as emotion as he could to express apology for stepping on the other’s gesture of unfathomable kindness even though he hadn’t meant to, thanks for said gesture and for being there with him throughout this traumatic time (because honestly he wasn’t so sure he’d have been able to cope half as well, even with his family there, than he had when Ted was there) and finally just to let him know how much he loved him.

“I settled on a clinic…” he finally admitted when they parted.

“You what?” Ted blinked and accepted the sheaf of papers Cody passed over, reading them with a swiftness that indicated he read a lot; something that made sense when you considered how much time he had to kill when he was travelling here and there, or trying to ward off loneliness in one non-descript hotel/hostel room after another. “Oh, I see…” he blinked several times and saw indeed that the Florida institute was right near his parental home, and Georgia was undoubtedly near Cody’s…

“St. Louis.”

“St. Louis?”

“Well… Randy and John invited you to live with them right? By the time I’m better you’ll have settled in here… And I must say I’ve come to like St. Louis myself.”

~::~

“Here are the reports AJ,” Evan handed over quite the considerable amount of paperwork and Chris grimaced sympathetically; he understood how tedious and arduous paperwork was, but he often had quite the decent amount of time to go through stuff when it was thrown his way… AJ probably had a few weeks at best and that was on top of whatever other cases she was working at the time, because he knew that even if she was going to be working hard with them on this case she did have other duties to tend to as well.

“Thanks… Man, could you have been any more thorough?”

Chris blinked, frowning just slightly since he wasn’t sure he appreciated the slight on Evan’s work… and he was still a little sore over the way she had kissed his lover earlier even if he didn’t consider as much of a viable threat considering that she was a woman and all, “Isn’t thorough what you want?”

“Well yeah,” the young woman said, looking completely at ease now they were away from the courthouse, “But I do intend to have a life around this case… I was kind of hoping for the abridged version.”

“The cliff-notes never get you the score.”

“Hey,” she winked slightly, “It got me through three years of law school.”

“I stand corrected.”

“Is there anything else you need?” Evan asked, AJ seeming to consider it a moment before she then said, “Are all of the crime-scene photos here? The autopsy photos?”

“I don’t think Kane has done the autopsies yet…”

“Isn’t the Undertaker on today?”

“You know you can get in trouble for calling him that?”

Giggling girlishly AJ shook her head, “Nah, I won’t get into trouble,” she winked, “Kane and I go back, so I know him and Mark really well.”

“How do you know Glen?” Evan asked interestedly, knowing he was probably chancing using the man’s real name since he insisted that anyone addressing him should use the nickname. A nickname no one understood the origin or significance of but that no one had ever been brave enough to ask about.

“Oh… Let’s just say we’ve had dinner before and leave it there.”

“Man…” Chris blinked, “Quite the collection you’ve got going there.”

“Chris!” Evan chided, kicking the man lightly underneath the table.

“OW!”

“Apologise!”

Looking amused AJ merely shook her head, “It’s fine Evan, I know what he means, but, like I said; young, free and single, why shouldn’t I mingle? Besides, you two should understand if nothing else how hard it is to meet that one person who’ll stick around with the work that I do?” dating in work was something she had avoided until recently, and most men she met outside of work were impressed by her income and power at first but soon began to start complaining about feeling inadequate around her, and that she took away their masculine pride or something or other… usually she trailed off until someone used the ‘C’ word and then she went Psycho on their asses.

“That’s true,” Chris glanced at Evan, who blushed slightly, and then back to AJ, “Sorry though, I didn’t mean for it to sound like it came out.”

“It’s fine…” she tucked the papers into her briefcase and then reached up to remove her hair from the severe bun, the long, dark locks cascading around her face and shoulders in messy not-quite curls, “Hey, Evan, if there’s anything I need to ask you about these am I OK to just text you at home?”

“Yeah sure, my phone’s always on.”

“Awesome,” she smiled, “I’ll catch you both later then,” and then she all but skipped out of the office. It was amusing to watch her from their vantage point because it was easy to distinguish between people that knew who AJ was and had come across her before and then those who hadn’t; those who were used to AJ and her unpredictable antics didn’t even look up from their paperwork, but those who hadn’t looked incredulous, as though they didn’t know whether they were really seeing the woman skipping along, and wondering why none of the other officers were attempting to stop her since she was clearly either intoxicated or high.

“I still don’t understand how she got elected DA,” Evan mused wanly, “She’s good but when you see her outside court she looks as though she should still be playing Volleyball in Gym at High-school.”

“You don’t look like the head of a forensics lab yourself you know?” Chris mused as he draped an arm around Evan’s middle and leant against him. Evan seemed surprised by the rather blatant contact in their workplace but he didn’t pull away from him; after what had happened that day the solid, comfortable warmth of Chris’ body was offering Evan a reassurance that he had never experienced before.

“Shut up.”

“Cheeky… what’s say we get out of here and get something to eat? You can come back to work in the morning.”

“But I have things that need doing—“Evan started apologetically, startling when Chris merely started steering him out of the office, “You’ve done the important things today. The team can handle a few hours without you. Worse comes to worse? They can contact you at home. How does Chinese at my place sound?”

Quirking a small smile Evan nodded, “That sounds great.”

~::~

Several months later seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye; John had been working harder than ever to get the evidence needed for AJ to take to trial over Perez and Morrison, Randy had been working hard at his new job too but had been finding spare time here and there to find somewhere new for he and John to live, Ted had been helping with the move and had actually decided to move in with them, both because he knew that they had been right about how he was unlikely to settle down any other way and also because he knew this way he could be close to Cody doing his rehab. Even though he had moved in with his friends he and Cody had discussed the possibility of maybe looking for their own place together once Cody’s rehabilitation was completed and the trial was over, so that they could truly focus on arranging their lives into a cohesive unit… Ted knew for sure however that he had no intention of letting Cody slip through his fingers, even if the other decided he’d move back to his home in Georgia when all was said and done.

“Why do you look so nervous?” Ted asked John as he walked into the kitchen and found the man sitting there, home surprisingly early given the fact he’d been back to his old pattern of leaving before they all awoke and arriving home when they were all in bed for almost as far back as Ted could remember it felt.

“It’s nothing…” John said, shifting from foot-to-foot in a manner that said quite clearly that it was far from nothing, “You sure you’ve gotten everything from back home and stuff?”

“All sorted.”

“Do… Do you regret moving in with us?” he asked, knowing he and Randy may have been a little pushy about it, and that perhaps Cody’s situation had swayed the man too.

“What?” Ted almost dropped his toast slice, “Regret it? Not at all,” he smiled warmly at John, “If anything I’m just worried about cramping your style.”

“Ha, no fear there…” John winked, “We never thought we’d have a kid so having you here gives us kind of an experience like that.”

“Ass.”

“Yup.”

“Where’s Randy?”

“Oh, he said he had to go pick up some papers for work or something…” he trailed off and then cleared his throat, “Ted, can I ask you something important?”

“If you’re going to ask me to run away with you after all of the effort Randy and I put in to decorating and repairing this place I’ll have to kick your ass,” he managed to remain dead-pan for all of ten seconds before he grinned to show he was kidding.

John looked ruefully amused before shaking his head, “No, sadly, that isn’t what I was going to ask… Um, and I just want to kind of point out that when I ask this I don’t mean for it to happen anytime soon, maybe once everything’s over and done with, but…” he was blushing like a school-boy and Ted was curious as to what was causing the cop such issues. “Do… you think this is a bit much?” reaching into his pocket John pulled out a small velvet box, and it took all of Ted’s effort not to fall out of the kitchen chair.

What were the odds of the two men buying one another rings with the same intention around the same time?

It was almost déjà vu when John opened the ring voice and revealed a plain, but robust and elegant gold band, nestled securely inside of the velvet. Not two weeks before Randy had revealed an almost identical ring, and asked Ted if he thought John would say yes should he ask him to marry him, or no, in which case would they be able to carry on as they had been?

“Don’t you think it’s the right kind of ring?”

“What?” Ted finally dragged himself back to the moment, cursing that perhaps more time had passed than he had thought since John was looking at him in a manner that suggested he had obviously been too long in responding to lead the man to start forming all manner of ideas in his head as to what Ted was thinking.

“Is the ring too boring? I mean, I did see other ones but Randy isn’t a huge jewellery fan so—”

“No! No, the ring’s perfect!” Ted insisted, and then quirked a slight smile, “So… What brought this on?”

Tucking the box back into his chest pocket securely John rubbed a hand embarrassedly over the back of his neck, “I… Well, it’s not like we’ve never talked about it—“he saw Ted’s surprise and knew he couldn’t blame him there; they probably didn’t seem the types, and with John having the career he did it might have seemed a given that it would be more unfair to marry Randy should something happen to him than if they were just dating, “And after everything that’s happened to us this year—“and wasn’t that a kick in the teeth? They were already reaching the end of the year, and it just seemed like yesterday when it was starting, “I thought that I want to show everyone even more than I have how much he means to me. I can’t imagine life without him, y’know?”

“I know,” Ted said softly, finger tracing over the simplistic silver chain that he wore around his neck; Cody had brought it for him not long after he had entered rehab, a little something to celebrate the several-month anniversary they had had at the time. Ted had wanted to buy something in return but Cody wouldn’t hear of it, so instead he merely brought him a colourful bouquet of flowers which adorned the room he was temporarily staying in at the St. Louis institute. He’d be coming out soon though, and it had been a unanimous decision that Cody should stay with them until his final recovery phase was over; in their new place there was enough room for him to stay, and for any of their parents should they come down.

“Will we be hearing the bells for you two soon then as well?” John winked.

Ted chuckled slightly and checked his watch; he would need to get going soon if he was going to make Cody’s appointment that morning, “Let’s just get him to the stage when I can walk him down the aisle without help first huh?”

“You could coordinate crutches to make the wedding colours if need be,” John teased affectionately.

~::~

Cody was in a quandary. 

He was healing pretty well, all things considered; there had been one further minor surgery but it had been a while before and he was finding every day easier and easier. It was fortunate for him that he had been in good shape before the shooting or so Wade had told him – Wade had become a friend over the last few months and Cody hadn’t been even a little surprised when Wade had too-casually mentioned his own boyfriend; Cody had the name in his head since he had casually passed Wade his wallet one day and immediately known that there was a picture of Justin in there. His gifts hadn’t gone after the shooting, as he had rather naively thought they might. 

He was walking well, no longer needing the wheelchair that he had regarded with quite a bit of anger at the start of his rehab, not that he was terribly fond of crutches either but it was better than being confined to the chair. But there was a court case coming up and he wasn’t sure if being able to walk would help or hinder matters. If he was walking then there was a good chance the jury wouldn’t be able to see just how much time had been lost to his recovery. Crutches didn’t have the same emotional impact and he often wondered if he should turn up to court in the chair, even if he no longer needed it. AJ had said that it wasn’t important, that she would be able to show enough evidence that Melina would be going away for the rest of her natural, but Cody wasn’t convinced. Knowing that Morrison planned to take the blame for everything made him very nervous and looking into the public records of the lawyers that the pair had hired made him more so. AJ was good by all accounts, using her apparent youth and naivety to make any flaws in the defence seem obvious and glaring, but he had the sneaking suspicion that her opponents were better. 

At least they never raised bail. 

He would ask Ted, he decided. Ted would give him an honest opinion and in spite of everything, Ted was almost completely without guile. Cody already thought that Ted would advise against the chair, and not only because when it came to the trial the lawyers might point out that he could walk and make it look like the cynical ploy that Cody knew deep-down that it was. Ted wanted his recovery to be on-track and he would see the chair as cheating. Ted had always believed in honesty too, no matter how much trouble it had gotten him into over the years. 

Using his crutches, Cody manoeuvred himself around the room to dress and wash up, reflecting that he was getting pretty good using the things, although it was a skill he would be pleased to lose. Quite often now he relied more on the use of a cane and that suited him better, although he hoped that he would be able to leave that behind in the end as well. Wade had mentioned that the nerve damage he’d suffered meant that most of his recovery was strengthening the muscles he never usually had to consider before, ones that were only really exercised by the usual human usage and that was made hard by their damage. Hence the physical therapy, which Cody considered a kind of necessary torture. There had been plenty of days when he felt ready to cry in rage and frustration when his legs simply wouldn’t behave the way he wanted them to, when the simplest thing seemed impossible. Even more often he had wanted to cry from pain, ranging from a dull ache that suggested an over-enthusiastic work-out to a leaden agony that left him wanting to puke or pass out. But those pains lessened over time and his mobility got better and better. And whenever he bitterly wished he hadn’t gotten shot, he remembered that it had been a part of the best thing in his life coming to him – and if it hadn’t been him, it might well have been Ted. Better to suffer through the pain, live through the trauma, than for Ted to be the one to do so. 

Dressed and prepared, he sat on his bed with his legs up (an awkward task but one that made him feel more like his old self) and his crutches in easy reach, grabbing the latest copy of The Walking Dead and flicking it open. The unit he had been living in was comfortable and private while having people on hand to help him out, but he wouldn’t be sorry to leave it. It felt temporary for one thing, in spite of the touches he had added to make it more homely. And when he left, he would be moving in with Ted. That made him smile. He had been to the house where Ted lived with Randy and John and he couldn’t wait. Ted hadn’t been called away, as he had feared and still did – he knew that Ted had managed extended stays in places before and it hadn’t lasted. But he also had started to trust that no matter what, Ted would be coming home to him. Rick’s battle against zombie hoards and lawless gangs simply wasn’t grabbing his attention; he was too full of his plans for when he got out of here. They had tentatively set the date for once the trials were over and things were okay in all areas of their lives, the logic being that Cody would hopefully have done all the intense rehab he needed and be able to cut it down some, enabling him to be away from the facility. Cody was determined he would be good and ready long before that, just to ensure that there was no chance of the plan being put on hold. 

It was this smile that Ted walked in on and he answered it in kind when Cody’s blue eyes turned to him. “You’re looking happy today. “

“I’ve got a lot of reasons to be happy.” Cody returned Ted’s lingering kiss as the blonde sat on his bed and leaned into him. When they finally broke apart, Cody’s smile had become a grin. “I’ll be out of here soon and waking up to you every morning. What could be sweeter?”

Ted chuckled and then became solemn. “Looks like everything’s going to schedule there. John told me this morning, no more delays. The trial’s starting on Monday for sure. They’ve selected jurors and the judge and there’s no more legal foot-dragging they can do.” He paused. “Are you sure you wanna go? It’s gonna be a circus.”

“Are you going?”

Ted looked confused. “Of course. I have to.”

“Then you understand, so do I. It doesn’t matter if I have to beat the papers aside with the crutches, I’m gonna be there. And it’s not like I’m the big story. I’m just the guy who recognised Melina from the photofit on TV, remember? They’re not gonna care much about me. It’s gonna be about the kids.”

“Yeah.” Ted didn’t look surprised that Cody had insisted on attending, he wouldn’t have expected anything else. “They won’t be in the courtroom though, they’re being video linked in or something like that.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m going to be there.” Cody shrugged. “And probably there’ll be families there for the press to focus on. Do you think I should go in the chair?”

“Why?”

“Because I needed one for a long time and it might sway the jury’s sympathy. And we’d get a better view.”

“And that would attract more attention from the press,” replied Ted severely, his own aversion to any kind of publicity showing through. “You don’t need it and so don’t use it. Anyway, I was kinda looking forward to escorting you there in a suit. It’s a bit like a fancy date.”

Cody broke out laughing. “When I get out of here, I’m hoping to go on a proper date and it’d better be somewhere a little more appropriate than a courtroom!”

Ted grinned, winking at Cody. “You can count on it. You just get better and I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go.”


	26. Chapter Twenty-Five: Storm's A-Brewin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial gets underway, but opening statements have barely begun when a relative with another brand of justice in mind appears.

Just as had been predicted, outside the court was packed on the Monday when Chris and Evan walked up the steps, dressed in their best suits and over an hour early. Much to the surprise of a lot of people, they had formed a lasting relationship and while they’d endured jokes about the age gap and Evan’s alleged intellectual superiority, neither one of them paid attention to that kind of thing and both of them were certain it would work out in the long term. They entertained one another and their differences of opinion were superficial enough to be rendered unimportant. 

It probably helped that Punk had kept a distance from them since the scene outside the court the last time they were there. 

A few pictures were taken of them in case they turned out to be important later on but for the most they were left alone and Evan breathed a sigh of relief when they got in – he had given evidence in court cases before but never one as high-profile as this one and never in one that had such a potentially touchy subjects of psychics involved. He needed to watch what he was saying and he didn’t like that, even if he wasn’t lying so much as simply omitting a few things that had never made it to the official version of events. He was lucky he supposed, most of his evidence would be based on forensic facts, with the slight variation of when he had followed John out of the station. In that respect they were damned lucky that Cody had been taken from the street and Ted had recognised the child in the window. Evan already had butterflies thinking how he might explain how he’d gone directly to the murder weapon in the former house. 

“It’ll be fine,” said Chris, taking Evan’s hand and squeezing it while there was no one around to see. Chris was a whole lot more comfortable in the spotlight, factual, slightly humorous and quite able to turn the opinions of others to his way of thinking. In his own way he was as charismatic as Punk was. 

“I know.” Evan headed off to the courtroom, a little downhearted that as a witness, he wouldn’t be allowed to observe what was going on in the actual trial in case it affected what he had to say. After all that had happened in that case, including a rather seismic change in his own way of thinking, he would have liked to be there to hear what everyone else had to say. 

Most people chose to sneak in early, John and Randy causing a slight stir when they arrived – as the cop in charge who had made the arrests, John was a man of interest. Randy might have been there for the end, but he had not been chosen to give evidence at the trial. Neither had Ted or Cody, which both of them found a little strange but it had been explained to them that the trial was about the kidnappings and there was ample proof without their witness statements that Melina and Morrison had been the kidnappers. Things would change when Melina went on trial for shooting Cody of course, but that was a separate issue and being treated as such. They arrived only a few minutes after John and Randy did and Ted found himself having to protect Cody from the photographers who knew he had been the one Melina shot, although fortunately his identity at being brought in as the psychic on the case was unknown. It wasn’t as bad as either of them had feared however; it was assumed that Cody was simply there to see justice done before his own case came to court. And it was quite fortunate that Heyman and Punk arrived at more or less the same time and were quite willing to give soundbites to the press. 

Ted and Cody went to sit with Randy, who had bagged a space close to the front of the court and claimed it was so Cody had room for his legs and crutches. Cody took the seat gratefully, but a little nervously. He had always avoided the trials of anyone he had been involved in and had no idea what to expect. Ted had been to one or two and was far more stoic about the whole thing, although his friends knew that he was looking forward to seeing the woman who had shot Cody getting put away. Melina’s trial was first, which meant that both Heyman and Punk were there merely as spectators before their own trial began. AJ was already there, dressed in a black skirt and jacket with a demure blouse beneath, hair tied back. In spite of the clothes she managed to look too young to be involved in such a high-profile crime and it worried Ted more than he would have dreamed of letting on to Cody. 

“Where’s John?” Cody asked. 

“He’s giving evidence, so they won’t let him watch the trial,” Randy explained. “He’s here, but they have rooms where cops go until they have to give evidence. And he’s probably calming the nerves of some of the other witnesses, he’s used to it but not everyone else is...”

Ted wasn’t hearing much of this. His attention was taken up by a man he saw walking slowly into the court room and taking a seat just behind them; he had to turn to watch the man enter but turned back when it became clear he’d be staring. He knew the man, although he hadn’t spoken to him and they had nothing to do with another. He was Dazzle’s father, the one he was supposed to have spoken to about his daughters thoughts and wishes. He hadn’t had that conversation at John’s request but John had spoken to him instead, relaying all that Dazzle had told Ted about being in no pain and not even knowing anything bad was going on. He had apparently refrained from mentioning she lingered in the park – or rather that she had. When Cody was out of danger Ted had returned to speak with her and found her missing. There was no sign of her watching the lone skater (Dylan, although Ted hadn’t known it) and the slightly oppressive, electric atmosphere that Ted had come to associate with places the dead inhabited was absent. Melina had been found, the message had been passed on and she had gone. He just wished he knew what she had gone on to. 

The man didn’t look well, his eyes bloodshot in spite of the smart suit, jaw set, expression cold. Ted supposed that he had a right to his anger. The kidnappers were caught, but his daughter had never come home. 

Cody reached for Ted’s hand and he pulled himself from his reverie to smile at the other. Cody’s expression was tight and he wasn’t looking at Ted and when Ted looked over, he saw why. The door at the front of the court had opened and Melina walked in, Vickie beside her. Vickie was a marked contrast to AJ, deliberately making herself looking rather more maternal than the cougar-esque outfit she had worn the first time he had laid eyes on her, although there were still hints in the high heeled fuck-me shoes she wore and the slightly too low neckline. Compared to AJ she looked the more experienced, wiser and it gave Ted a slightly uneasy feeling that was gone almost before he recognised it. 

Beside her, Melina had gone for a demure look that was also designed to make a statement. Her Latina beauty had been subtly emphasised, but her clothes were a whole lot less showy than the photographs that had adorned the papers captured her in. A black pencil skirt and purple blouse covered everything while showing a good body, but her hair had been drawn away from her face, slight tendrils making her seem slightly harried. It was ironic, reflected Ted. This was a woman who had always dressed to look good, to impress, to look younger than she really was but toning it down had been the one thing that made her look both prettier and younger. He glanced over to the jury and saw one or two of the men pretending they weren’t giving her admiring glances. That was a bad sign. 

The judge entered and the court rose, Cody caught by surprise and struggling a little so that by the time he was on his feet it was time to sit down again. He almost fell back into his seat, looking over to the judge and then to the jury. Everything seemed right, everything was in place. His gaze went to Vickie, going through some papers, to Melina sitting meekly by her side. He hadn’t seen Melina in person since the woman unloaded a gun into him and she seemed different somehow, reduced, less frightening. Of course, now she wasn’t holding a gun and there were people between her and him, he was no longer a threat and she probably didn’t even think of him anymore. There was nothing to worry about. 

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss, something was badly wrong. 

He squeezed Ted’s hand harder and looked over at the blonde. Ted seemed uneasy as well, but that might just be that he was picking up on Cody’s mood – Ted had always been surprisingly in tune with how Cody was feeling. Beyond Ted, Randy seemed unaffected and no one else seemed anything other than interested, a little grave. Given the content of the trial, that was normal. But Cody had the sudden, horrible feeling that he needed to get out of there, get Ted out of there, Randy too. 

You’re just worried because the trial’s finally here. It’s just nerves. Now cut it out and stop freaking out!

Good advice, but he had always listened to his feelings and they’d never seen him wrong so far. In spite of that, he stayed where he was. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself by causing a scene and he didn’t want to miss the trial if it was only his nerves and his lingering paranoia seeing him wrong. 

The judge called for opening arguments and AJ rose first, pushing her glasses up her nose with her forefinger before beginning. In spite of the young looks she had, she was a convincing, animated speaker. She started by pointing out that Melina had been arrested and charged with many counts of kidnapping, one count of murder and one of manslaughter. She spoke unflinchingly of the premeditation surrounding the kidnappings, the deliberate picking out of certain children. She was emotional without being over the top as she recounted the terror of the children upon finding they had been taken prisoner, away from their families, of their fear and desperation, the nightmare their families had been put through when their children hadn’t come home. Cody found himself being caught up, the mental picture she painted so vivid that he almost forgot his worries. Almost. 

AJ continued, telling of how the children had found themselves in the care of remorseless psychopaths with no hope of escape and a constant reminder of what happened to bad children, the bodies of the earlier children lying in the shed, rotting unremarked while their parents prayed for their return, hope kept alive by not knowing being the cruellest thing of all. Someone behind them started crying quietly and Ted turned a little, unobtrusively enough so that maybe only Cody realised. He didn’t know why though, the only person sitting behind them was a man on his own and he had made no sound, shown no emotion, during the speech. 

AJ’s words reached a crescendo as she explained she would prove Melina had committed those terrible acts in full knowledge of what she was doing and that the jury would have no choice other than to put her in jail for the rest of her life. When she finally finished and sat down, Cody wanted to applaud as if she was an actress giving a very good speech, but he managed to restrain himself. The bad feeling was upon him again and in spite of AJ’s argument giving him hope of a conviction, he couldn’t get rid of it at all. 

Vickie stood up, giving AJ a look of thinly-disguised contempt. “Dramatic,” she commented. “Words designed to pull at your heart, make everyone here feel bad for these children. Arguments based on feelings, not on facts. And the facts in this case have been glossed over in order to provoke a negative feeling toward my client. Let me highlight some facts in this case.”

She looked at the jury before stepping aside and indicating to her client. “The fact is that Melina Perez was unable to have children of her own, the children that she so desperately wanted. The fact is that the tragic and accidental death of her adoptive daughter caused a temporary break with reality as she tried to fill a horrible void in her life and a terrible guilt that she was somehow responsible for a horrible accident with the large family she always wanted. And even so, she did not simply take those children who would not benefit from her love. She found those whose home lives were sub-par, the neglected and the abused, knowing they needed her as much as she desperately needed them.”

She shot her client a look of saccharine-sweet sympathy and turned her attention back to the jury. “Miss Perez would not have done such a thing, even in spite of her terrible emotional pain, had it not been for her loving but misguided husband. He himself will tell you in the coming weeks that the taking of the children was his idea, that he presented the idea to her and talked her into it. And when he saw how happy the children made her, it was he who suggested they adopt more. Miss Perez opened her heart and her home to these children, they were not neglected or mistreated. They were cared for, educated, loved. They were in no danger and for some of these children, she offered a stability that their lives had not known until this point.”

Vickie indicated rather dramatically to Melina. “You will see that my client does not deserve jail. She was a woman driven by her terrible, tragic loss, the loss of her only child. She was a woman suffering the worst heartbreak any parent could know and you will be witness to many people explaining how her illness led her to do the unthinkable. This woman doesn’t need to be jailed, she needs to be given help and she has taken the help that has been offered her immediately and willingly...”

Cody sensed, rather than saw, the man behind them standing up and his heart suddenly started racing, he had no idea what had caused the sudden sense of dread but he wasn’t about to deny it. He grabbed Ted’s hand again and yanked, vaguely aware of the startled expression on the blonde’s face as he pulled him toward the floor. That was overtaken by a flare of pain as he hit the floor as well and that was quickly forgotten when he heard the gunshots. 

The first shot was followed by a scream –Vickie, Cody thought distantly – and four more shots in rapid succession. By the time the final shot was fired the entire courtroom was awash with screaming, shouts, people running for the doors. Cody heard the heavy wooden thud as the doors were thrown open and wondered suddenly if this would count as a mistrial. 

Ted’s body covered his and Cody caught a glimpse of his face, pure white. He could hear Randy swearing loudly from somewhere but couldn’t see the man; he suspected that Randy too had hit the floor and hoped that he stayed there. Randy was exactly the type to have a go at the gunman but it had all happened so fast – he judged it had been only ten or fifteen seconds from the first shot. 

There was another shot and several drops of liquid fell onto Cody’s hand. Looking up at Ted, he saw that there was blood in his hair, his blue eyes wide and terrified. For a heart-stopping moment, Cody thought he’d been shot.

“TEDDY!”

“I’m okay,” said Ted, although he didn’t sound okay, far from it. His voice was rusty and hoarse and he looked up, scrambling to his feet and breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating. Cody tried to get up himself and cursed his reduced mobility, it shouldn’t be so hard to do, but he didn’t get much of a chance to struggle alone as Ted leaned down to help him. 

Cody got to his feet and then immediately had to sit on the bench he had been at before everything happened, his crutches fallen out of his reach. There was pandemonium, people still trying to get out of the doors as others were trying to get in and restore order. Cody turned to look behind them where the man had been and looked back quickly. The man was sprawled on the floor, an exit hole that seemed the size of a fist in his head, leaking blood and greyish-pink lumps. Cody squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, thinking that he would have done anything at all to unsee that. Taking a deep, gulping breath he opened his eyes again and looked to the front of the court. Vickie was lying in a heap on the floor, but from her sobbing it seemed that she was alive and unharmed. There was no sign of the judge and the court officers were standing around seemingly lost, one with a gun in his hand that didn’t seem to have been used – Cody would have bet money that the wound he’d seen on the man had been self-inflicted, the barrel beneath his chin and the bullet tearing through the top of his scalp. 

“Someone call an ambulance!”

It took Cody a few seconds to realise the shout had come from AJ and he turned his head to see her kneeling at the desk where Melina had been seated. Her face was ashen and as she distractedly pushed her hair back, she left a streak of blood over her face. Her hands were covered in it, Cody noticed with a distant fascination. He supposed he was going into shock. It was the only reason he could think of for his complete detachment from what he was witnessing. 

He looked over at Ted, who had somehow managed to go even paler. “You’ve got blood in your hair,” he commented without even knowing why. It hardly seemed like the most important thing right then. 

Ted gave no reply, simply staring into space with an odd look on his face. That look brought Cody out of his shock a little; Ted looked like he’d seen – a ghost...

Instinctively Cody reached out to take Ted’s hand.

He didn’t always get thoughts and feelings from touching people, it was actually quite rare and Ted was no different in that respect. It was far more common for him to pick up residue from items and even then it didn’t happen all the time. When he did get memories from people they tended to be flashes, feelings, lingering emotions. He had never seen through someone else’s eyes and he had certainly never seen what they were seeing at that very moment – but perhaps the stress of the situation had made them both more receptive because suddenly Cody could see her too, the woman that had caught Ted’s attention, the one he thought only he could see. 

Melina was standing at the front of the courtroom, drenched in blood, staring down at herself in horror. Cody tightened his hand around Ted’s, horrified. Was this what it was like for his lover every time?

“What...” Melina looked over to where AJ was trying to perform CPR inexpertly, then back down at herself, up again. Her eyes locked with Ted as if she somehow knew he was the only one that knew she was there. “What did I ever do to him?!”

“You killed his daughter,” replied Ted numbly and Cody heard his voice in a strange doubling-over, through his own ears and his boyfriends. “The girl you killed, that was her father. She just wanted him to go on and I guess he – he couldn’t.”

“But he killed me!”

“Maybe he thought you needed to pay for what you did to her,” said Cody and he felt Ted’s hand reflexively tighten around his, sensed his lover’s surprise that someone else could see her too. 

“But...” Melina started toward them and Cody shrank back with some alarm. “What happens now?”

“I don’t know,” replied Ted quietly. 

Randy appeared in their line of vision, obscuring Melina for which Cody was suddenly profoundly grateful. “Guys, we have to get out of here now!”

“Can’t,” said Cody dimly. “Crutches.”

Randy growled slightly and grabbed Cody’s crutches, handing them to him. As Cody let go of Ted’s hand he leaned around to look past Randy and realised he could no longer see Melina. But he knew she was there – and the thought freaked him out. He wanted to be gone.

There was another commotion from the doors as the cops who had been trying to get past the fleeing crowd finally managed to get in. Cody was unsurprised to see that John was there, dressed in a suit but still clearly in full cop mode. He spied them across the room and all but raced over to them, sharp eyes raking over the blood in Ted’s hair.

“Are you hurt?”

“We’re all fine John,” said Randy. 

“Good.” John looked to the floor, then at the scene around them, running a hand over his hair. “What a fucking mess. Get the kids home Randy, okay?”

“Okay.” Randy smiled at John and looked about to say something else, but John surprised him by leaning forward to kiss his lips quickly. 

“I about shit myself when someone said there were shots fired in here,” he confessed and then turned to the doors. “Okay, looks like everything’s over now – contain the scene and someone get an ambulance!”

“She’s way past needing an ambulance,” said Ted. “She’s screaming. She’s not at all happy.”

Randy gave him a sharp look. “Let’s get you home,” he said commandingly, ushering Ted ahead of him and offering to help Cody. Cody refused, but was aware that he was probably hampering things as slow as he was on the crutches. But he too wanted to get Ted out of there. He had seen enough of Melina himself to want Ted spared the sight of any more.

~::~ 

Outside of the courtroom it seemed as though what had happened in there became too much for Ted, even after everything he must have witnessed in his lifetime, and he doubled over at the nearest drain and heaved. Trust Ted to be conscientious of making a mess even when he was in the midst of shock, Cody thought as he and Randy hastened over to the blonde--- or as Cody attempted to hasten, almost tripping over his own feet in the process.

“Ted—”

“S-Sorry—”

“What are you apologising for?” Randy demanded as Ted harrumphed before coughing a few times and struggling upright, a grey tinge still giving his pallor a sickly look.

“I—“he floundered slightly, as though unsure himself and Cody shook his head.

“You don’t need to apologise.”

“It’s… So sad… but is it wrong that I’m not sad she’s dead?” although the likelihood of her spending the rest of her natural life in prison (or a psychiatric facility as Vickie’s prelude had appeared to be wrangling towards) may have seemed like a punishment justifiable enough to some to Ted that wouldn’t have been enough even though he knew legally it was what was right and now it seemed his thoughts had been shared elsewhere.

“No,” Randy said abruptly as he squeezed Ted’s shoulder and pulled him away from the drain, leading he and Cody towards where his car was parked somewhere around the corner from the courthouse in the closest available parking that he and John had managed to snag, opening the door and ushering Ted inside before then moving to help Cody despite the other’s protests; even now he still struggled to accommodate his crutches inside of a vehicle with him whether he placed them in first, or got in himself and tried to bring them in after. Getting into the driver’s seat afterwards Randy then put the car into gear and got the hell out of dodge before addressing Ted once more, “It’s not bad that you’re not sad she’s dead. I’m not sad the psychotic bitch is gone,” he didn’t care what her reasons were, when you messed with kids you crossed a line, “But I do feel bad about the kid’s dad…” a deep scowl marred his handsome face, “I guess guilt can just eat you up inside huh?”

“But he had nothing to feel guilty for, did he?” Ted mumbled a little numbly, although the further away from the courthouse they got the more colour seemed to return to his face.

“It can get you in strange ways,” Randy said, eyes on the road and looking surprisingly serene, “Really strange ways… He probably felt guilty that he didn’t talk to her more about dealing with strangers, or staying out in that park all of the time on her own even if it was just on their doorstep.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience there, Randy,” Cody said, shifting so that he could try and sit more comfortably; sadly car travel had become unbearable even during short periods of time but he grit his teeth and bore it since travelling was still going to undoubtedly play a big part in his life even if he was starting to set down roots in St Louis with Ted.

“Maybe I am…” Randy gave a grim smile back to him through the rear-view mirror, “Except I’ve never had a kid kidnapped and killed of course.”

“When John was shot?” Cody voiced tentatively, having since heard the stories of some of John’s hairier experiences when he’d been out on the field in the past, as well as what almost happened to Randy himself—and he’d been in a much less vulnerable position.

Randy didn’t say anything but the look on his face was enough, silence descending upon the trio until they reached the house, Randy then helping Cody out and up the few steps that led to the porch. The porch was one of Cody’s favourite parts about the house because when the weather was nice and everything was all settled they’d all be able to sit out there basking in the peaceful tranquillity of it all, possibly with a BBQ going, or at the very least some beers.

Once they were inside Randy went into the kitchen and put the kettle on (undoubtedly to brew coffee) before apparently deciding against it and clicking the device off again before instead going into the fridge and pulling out a bottle of pop instead, pouring three healthy measures before then glancing across at the rather fancy liquor cabinet that John’s brothers had all pitched in and brought as a house-warming gift for the brunette once he’d announced his plans to his family, seeming to consider for a brief moment before asking, “Would it be inappropriate to break out the booze?”

“I wouldn’t say no if you wanna Irish these up a little.”

“I think it’s only coffee you can make Irish.”

“Are you seriously getting pedantic about the drinking instead of actually doing the drinking?”

“Fair point,” Randy crossed to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, supposing that would do for the moment. Splashing some into his glass and then Ted’s, he looked to Cody and arched a brow when he noticed the other was already holding his glass out expectantly. “Aren’t you still on pain medication?” he questioned; he might be lax about authority on a lot of things but even compared to Ted and John, Randy had become quite the mother-hen to the younger man since his shooting and subsequent rehabilitation.

“No.”

Ted paused in swilling his own glass to mix the alcohol into the pop to level Cody with a pointed look, “Liar.”

“I am not.”

“Cody—”

“It’s only over-the-counter stuff now,” Cody insisted, “Wade said that anything right now is mainly going to be residual and I should do my best to get used to it…” that and Wade had suggested that since the worst of the pain and the main hills of progressed had been climbed that he should attempt to wean himself from the strong medication as soon as he could. Even the weak stuff would be hard to give up, he had warned, but he trusted Cody’s will--- and had told him that if he ever found himself struggling then he should come to him and he’d do whatever he could to help. It was a strange way to have made a friend but Cody knew he’d found another person he could count on in Wade, and in Justin too.

Suspicion was painted across Randy’s face but even he relented after a moment, pouring in only the smallest measure into Cody’s glass. When the younger man pouted and levelled him with a demanding look the older man merely shrugged and met the gaze head-on, “Just in case,” was all he said.

They went quiet once more as they drank, Ted draining his glass surprisingly quickly.

“Cody… How did you know to pull me down?” in the immediate aftermath it hadn’t occurred to him that had Cody not pulled him aside then there was every chance he could still be on that courtroom floor, dead as a dodo and with a bullet hole through his head as well, but now he was away from the immediate pandemonium and everything else the question struck him.

Chink-thunk!

The sudden sound of Cody’s glass hitting the table-top slightly harder than he had obviously intended said more than words could, but the expression of momentary guilt and uncertainty that flittered across his face like a paranoid butterfly that dared not land long in one place, only clinched the fact that he knew exactly what Ted was talking about and that there indeed had been a reason.

“What’re you talking about Ted?” Randy asked, voice low and serious.

Ted glanced between Randy and Cody, the blood still spattered in his hair and over his forehead. He hadn’t thought to go and shower and in all of the excitement no one else had paid a mind to the substance that was so out of place, especially since Ted didn’t seem injured in any way. As though reading Cody’s mind Ted added, “The blood isn’t mine—“there wasn’t a mark on him. Disturbingly, the blood and whatever else that was currently on his person had to have come from the gentleman who had reined such terror upon the St Louis court.

“Cody pulled me down just before the guy started shooting. If he hadn’t…” he didn’t need to elaborate, it was clear that the other too understood exactly what he meant.

Looking down at the table-top Cody wondered deep down why he was hesitating; it wasn’t as though either man was oblivious to his gifts or what they could do, but this time it was different. This time he had no idea whether it had been anything to do with psychic ability or whether it was just gut-feeling that had spurred him into acting, which even then had been a knee-jerk reaction since he hadn’t even begun to comprehend that something like what had happened would happened.

It was like something out of a gangster movie.

“I… Felt something.”

“Felt something?” Randy repeated, though he didn’t sound mocking: more curious, trying to understand.

Sighing heavily Cody squirmed in his seat somewhat and avoided the two sets of eyes he could feel focused upon him. It was almost amusing how he had somehow managed to tell the difference between the gazes of his friends and the way they felt to him. John’s gaze was usually very steady, a wary but warm feeling, except when he was mad then it was usually a cooler feeling. Randy’s gaze was penetrating, aware, but welcoming when it was someone he cared for. And Ted? Well… Ted’s gaze seemed to envelop him, making every nuance of his being aware of its presence and longing for it whenever it left him. Maybe he was still in shock? Because his thoughts were making no sense even to him, even when he knew he wasn’t just waxing poetic.

“Yeah… As soon as we entered the courthouse this morning I had a bad feeling,” Cody supposed he should run down the ominous feeling he had had since that morning even though he wasn’t sure what the good was in hashing over it. The thought was unlikely as him suddenly awaking the next day to discover himself a female, but Cody couldn’t help but think that maybe he would somehow be blamed for what had happened. Perhaps someone would claim, should they discover he’d had something of a premonition, that he should have reacted sooner and then perhaps he could have saved Melina’s life. But, the scary thing was, Cody wasn’t sure he would have saved her (or her husband had it happened to him) even if he had somehow known in advance what would happen.

~::~

“What a fucking mess.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Is she dead then?”

“Oh yeah… three of the bullets hit, and one penetrated her lung.”

“Man… couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.”

“You’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead,” the growly voice of Glen “Kane” Calloway reached John and Chris from where they stood across the now empty, messy court-room, the man currently conducting the cursory examination of Melina Perez’s remains even though there was no dispute over what had happened. Hell, the news recorders in the room had probably recorded the whole incident even if the camera-men had high-tailed it out of there the second the guns had gone off.

For a moment Chris looked as though he couldn’t believe what he’d heard, “Even the dead that were responsible for the kidnapping of several children and murder of two others?”

Kane’s milky eye (he was partially blind thanks to a fire that had gutted his family home when he’d been young, however his brother Mark had escaped unscathed; something the worst of the naysayers who were jealous of the pairs success played on) focused upon him alongside his clear blue eye and Chris fought a shiver. It wasn’t as though he’d never confronted Kane before but there was just something about the man that could make you believe in all of those things that went ‘bump’ in the night that your parents always swore to you didn’t exist.

“Even those kinds of dead people deserve some measure of respect.”

Unsure whether or not the man was joking with him Chris merely gave a terse nod and remained silent as John carefully stepped around an upturned galley bench to join Mark as he continued his examination of the deceased father’s remains.

“Guessing there isn’t much to say here huh?”

“You’d be right,” Mark said quietly, his deep voice soulful and his face creased in a concentrated expression.

“Anything I need to know about for when I make a statement outside of what we already know?”

“I can’t tell much until we get things back to the lab but I can smell the alcohol from here. My guess is that he had a drink before coming and then… went through with what was in his mind. If he hadn’t have seen her sitting there, I don’t think he would have gone through with it.”

Incredulously John asked, “How do you figure?” he may not be a father but he knew that Mark was and asked, “Surely you’d do the same thing if it was your kid?” he didn’t mean to ask such a sensitive question but to him the fact that the man had fired five shots at the women before turning his gun on himself in the middle of a crowded courtroom and before TV cameras to him spoke of a man who had gotten out of bed that morning with only one intention.

“He may have hit Perez but the shots were shaky. Three out of five is good for a non-marksman but they were lucky shots,” he shook his head and exchanged a glance with Kane just as the man was zipping the black bin-bag like body-bag up over the deceased woman’s face, “The one that punctured her lung and let her bleed out? It was a wild shot. Either he was so messed-up he wanted to just fire blindly and hope she suffered, else he was guided by his emotions and just hoped for the best that he took her with him before he took himself down.”

“Y—you can tell all of that just looking at them?” John asked, admittedly rather impressed in a bit cowed.

Zipping up the body-bag of his own victim Mark then sighed and shook his head, “I’ve been around death for a long time, John; the dead speak to me the same way the living can talk to you. At least his suffering is over now, although some might not see his interruption of justice in a favourable light.”

“If it was me I would have at least increased the level of suffering she went through first,” Kane said almost conversationally as he followed the body-bag loaded gurney outside of the court to the waiting ambulance.

John glanced at Mark, slightly unnerved, “He’s kidding right?”

“Most of the time he is.”

“Wait, what?”

However Mark didn’t linger to chat merely excused himself and then headed out after the second gurney. Already a clean-up crew was entering the courthouse and Chris supposed he and John had to get out of there before they got accused of being in the way or whatever; they may be quite low on the totem-pole (no offence) but they sure as hell had egos that matched the strength of their cleaning solutions.

“What do we do now?” Chris asked as they exited the courthouse and headed down the front steps.

Several of the paps were still lingering around but they didn’t attempt to swarm them like a pack of rabid vultures which, if nothing else, said something about the impact the grieving father’s actions had had upon those who had witnessed them. They did still glance up at them with interest but then returned to their little huddles, whispering and spinning lord-only-knew what tales about what had happened. John might not like the press much for the way they could twist and manipulate facts to say what they wanted them to say but in this case at least he felt that they might be kinder to the father’s memory in the circumstances.

If they weren’t then he would bet his pension that he wouldn’t be the only person marching down to the newspaper offices and demanding to know what the hell they were playing at.

“I dunno,” John admitted, shoving his hands into his pockets, “I mean the trial’s obviously not going on now but I don’t wanna head off in case they suddenly decide they need us and we get a bollocking for being MIA.”

“Would be the kind of thing the higher-ups would do huh?”

“Sure would… where’s Evan?”

“Waiting for me in the car,” Chris responded; he hadn’t hesitated when the shots had been fired; he’d had Evan in his arms and had all but tackled everyone out of his way to make sure his lover got out, only thanking that there had been no children present otherwise things could have become even nastier than they had; as far as they knew there had only been minor injuries to the odd person from the mad crush to get out and so they had been relatively lucky.

John glanced at the blonde man beside him, “Is he OK?” it was obvious how much the relationship had developed despite the odd conventional obstacle and opposition and he knew that Chris had likely felt the same way he had when he’d heard what had happening in the court-room… the only difference being that he had been stuck in the other room with the other police and expert witnesses until someone had let them out so that all hands could be on deck regarding the in-courthouse staff.

“A little shaken up I think, but I’ll make sure he gets home alright.”

Despite what Evan had been through with their work he was just a laboratory technician at the end of the day and dealing with actual violence and guns and whatever was not something that he went through. Unlike Chris, and John, and others in their line of work who went through endless courses to learn how to deal with things like this as it happened; although he wasn’t too sure how much of that textbook course would have been applicable that day, it had all happened so fast and at the end of it there hadn’t been anyone to arrest.

There had just been two more bodies to pack down to the morgue.

“How’re you getting back?” Chris asked suddenly, pausing to cross the road to a nearby shop whose carpark he and Evan had taken liberty of using since the court’s carpark had been bursting at its legal seams by the time they had arrived even though they had made a point of getting there early since Evan had been planned to have a large part to play and all.

“Uh… good question,” John smiled ruefully; he hadn’t considered Randy taking the car would leave him stranded, and he really hated taking public transport if he could help it.

“I can give you a lift,” Chris shrugged, “It’s on our way now,” it turned out that he and Randy, along with Ted and soon to be Cody, now lived a mere few blocks away from the place Chris had called home for over seven years now.

“Thanks, I owe you.”

“Just promise me we’ve got enough to put Morrison away?” no one could fault the father for what he had done, but there was a level of public justice that needed meeting and Morrison was the last person that they had to take liability for what had been done to the children, and now potentially to Cody… although it was likely they would drop that charge now since Melina was dead, unless they decided to move the claim against her estate instead, Chris thought absently as he settled himself into the driver’s seat and started the car, smiling softly and reassuringly at Evan when the man reached across and silently squeezed his knee then keeping his hand in place for their entire journey.

~::~

Indeed the news of what had happened to Melina was all over the national and international news (surprisingly many people although most seemed to take it as a given what with how sensational the case had been to start with) by that evening, easily foreseeable as running on into the next few days’ worth of news.

Cody, Ted, John and Randy had all received respective phonecalls and messages from concerned relatives who had seen the clip of the shooting on the news and had known that they were going to be there, relief being wide-spread once all and sundry were assured that they were all unharmed. Physically anyway, though mentally that had seemed like a totally different story for Ted at least.

His Teddy was so damned sensitive, Cody lamented to himself as he watched the blonde moving around (what was soon to be their joint bedroom) drying and dressing from his long, hot shower and preparing for bed, hating that he still seemed stuck in that court-house and talking to Melina, or witnessing her death over and over again. Even though such cruel thoughts were likely to condemn him to some horrific type of afterlife Cody hated that Ted was expending so much of his compassion towards a woman that didn’t deserve it.

“Hey,” he said softly as he hobbled into the room; he had been scheduled to head back to the centre that evening, but once he’d gotten in touch with his therapist and explained what had happened they had been more than happy to document his ‘leave’ for him, even encouraging that he stay with Ted (somewhat embarrassingly they seemed to have gained some kind of couples’ notoriety amongst the centre’s staff) and to let them know when he would be back if he didn’t intend to report back the next day. The tempting prospect of just discharging himself had crossed Cody’s mind but he knew that Ted would get upset if he did so (and that it would just be spitting in the face of all of his hard work to recover, and Wade’s efforts to further aid him) and so he’d refrained and instead assured them that he would be back ASAP.

“Hey,” Ted returned softly.

“How you doing baby?” Cody murmured, setting his crutches down once he reached the end of the bed and flopped down onto it. Despite the fact that Ted was currently the only one staying in the room it had been decorated in agreement with both of their wishes; warm chocolate browns and creams, a soothing and warm atmosphere that they had been in unspoken agreement that they both needed and wanted.

“I’m doing good,” Ted said lightly although there was a shadow in his eyes that Cody had associated with the aftermath of seeing dead people.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I just… I didn’t think any ghost would really ever bother me again after—”

Confused, Cody cocked his head, “After what?”

Even in the dim lighting of the room Cody could make out a shadow that wasn’t supposed to be there cross Ted’s face. Instead of answering though he merely smiled at him, “Never mind. Here, do you need some help getting undressed?”

“I’m not bed-bound anymore Teddy,” Cody said wanly, crutches laid against his bed-side table so they were within reach should he need them although it’d been a few days now since he’d needed to get up in the middle of the night.

“I know… but maybe I just wanted an excuse to undress you?”

“Since when did you need an excuse for that?”

Chuckling softly Ted helped Cody get out of his clothes for the day, the darker haired man still struggling even with that simple mobility, though it was more the action of bending at the waist to be able to tend to his trousers and suchlike. Once he was in some comfortable sleepwear the pair settled into bed together, the TV playing almost inaudibly in the background, providing some level of normalcy as opposed to either of them actually watching it.

“Sorry about earlier,” Cody mumbled, “I mean, my… uh,” he wasn’t sure how to explain about the connection they had had towards Melina’s passing.

“It was weird huh?”

Shifting, Cody pulled Ted’s shoulder until the other’s head was nestled on his chest, sighing gently and feeling contented and secure with the strong arms around him and the subtly fragranced warmth that accompanied his lover’s being by his side.

“A little bit. But I’m not saying you’re weird—“he started.

“I know.”

“Are you sure you’re OK?”

“I have to be, we have to be.”

Melina might be dead but they still had one more person that they had to deal with before they could put this to rest.

Reaching, Cody carefully clicked the bedside lamp off on his side of the bed and then curled into Ted some more. Somewhere deep in his body some muscles protested the movement but it didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as it had and for that he was grateful; Ted needed him to be there right now, whether he said so or not, Cody wanted to be there for him and he also owed it to the other for all he had put up with in turn for him with the rehab and all that had entailed, and so the last thing he wanted was for his pains to start up again and for everything to be focused upon him again.

Ted being Ted would only try to project upon him so that the attention was drawn away from himself.

Around midnight when Randy and John finally headed up to bed they checked in on the pair, exchanging grins when they saw them curled up together like a pair of teenagers, Randy clicking off the TV as John silently crossed the room and checked the window was closed and the curtains drawn properly before they exited the room and headed to get some rest themselves. The hectic day might be over but there was still more to come.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Six: Couldn't Have Timed It Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody and Ted reflect on the incident in the court-room and even with the aftermath of the shooting it is decided that John Morrison will still stand trial... His defense team immediately work on their counter-attack, which unfortunately had sights on one unfortunate lab-technician. In the midst of the court-room drama giving them a reprieve John and Randy have a very memorable night together.

Ted woke slowly, vaguely recalling some weird and slightly unsettling dream about Cody and court, although from what he remembered of it he hadn’t been reliving the events of the day before. Usually he woke alone but at least these days he knew where he was waking without having to think too much about it, as had been the way when he was wandering. 

And even better, this morning he wasn’t waking up alone. He could feel the warmth of his lover against his skin, feel Cody’s breath feathering against his chest. He wasn’t ready to wake yet but it was nice to know that when he did Cody would be right there with him...

A hand snaked down his abs and rested lightly on his crotch, making him suddenly a whole lot less willing to remain in his sleepy state. He opened his eyes and the smile that he had been in the middle of faded a little. Cody was wide awake, looking back at him – but the look on his face was serious, intense and Ted wasn’t entirely sure what had put it there.

“Cody?”

“Teddy.” Cody’s hand caressed his cock through the thin fabric of his boxers and Ted found himself responding in spite of his concern. “I’ve been thinking about what happened yesterday.”

“There’s nothing else we can do about—“

“Not what happened to her,” said Cody patiently. “About what happened to us.”

Ted frowned. “I don’t follow.”

Cody sighed. “What happened and you don’t follow? Was it only me that noticed? There was how I felt before the shooting and then what we saw afterward.”

“I was sort of hoping to forget the afterward until we’d had breakfast.”

“Don’t joke,” said Cody sternly. “I mean, I’ve been having visions as long as I can remember but I’ve never had a premonition before. Not like that one. Did you feel anything?”

“Before?” Ted considered it carefully. “I don’t think so. But I was worried before we went in and I knew it could all go to shit. I was nervy, I didn’t feel all that good at all. But no, when Vickie was giving the speech I was just glad it had finally started and that meant it’d finally be over. I don’t think there was anything else on my mind.”

“I was scared,” Cody said quietly, almost pensively. “I was thinking the whole time from when we walked in that something was going to go wrong. I tried to put it down to worry about the outcome, or because I’ve never been to a court case before, or even seeing Melina again but I couldn’t quite talk myself into it. And when that man behind us stood up, I just knew that was it. I couldn’t fool myself anymore and I knew we had to protect ourselves, no matter what. If he hadn’t done anything, we would have made such a scene but it didn’t even occur to me.”

“We weren’t the ones in any danger though,” Ted pointed out. “He wasn’t aiming for us.”

“No, but he wasn’t a marksman, he didn’t even have a steady aim. You were the one between his right hand and Melina, no one else. Not even me, I was to his other side. If a shot went wild, then it would have been you who got in trouble. You were the one who was sat in front of him, more so than me.”

Ted blinked, trying to think of something to say to counter this. He couldn’t think of anything. Cody had a point.

“When we hit the floor, when he – when he shot himself, you were the one who ended up covered in blood, not me. I only got a few drips—“

“We’d moved by then—“

“Maybe, but you were still the one in the line of fire. And I never had a premonition like that before. I never got one for myself when I was shot.”

Ted shook his head as much as his lying on the pillow would allow. “I’d rather you had to be honest. But this isn’t a bad thing. It could be something about your abilities changing in response to what happened to you, making sure it won’t happen again. It might be nothing to do with me at all and you were just thinking of me, because that’s the way you are.”

Cody chuckled. “You thought that was me being selfless? I wouldn’t be so sure about that. It was instinct, pure and simple and it was about you not me. And in any case, what happened later...”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” confessed Ted. “But I haven’t come up with any answers. You saw her too, didn’t you? You saw Melina after she was dead.”

Cody nodded. “I saw her. Bleeding and coming toward us. There were people everywhere but she focused on us – on you, not so much me. Is that common?” 

“They can always tell I can see them,” said Ted, any trace of a smile gone. “They always know. It doesn’t matter how many other people are there, they always see me. She was uh, she was surprised when you knew she was there.” He hesitated. “So was I. What happened Codes?”

“I wish I knew.” Cody stopped, considered. “It was like being able to see what you saw. It was a little like if I touch something sometimes that has a really, really strong vibe coming from it. The closest I ever got to it before, I once picked up a chopping board of all things and I got the shock of my life. The woman who’d been holding it last had been using it to fend off an attack from someone and she was pouring all of her hope and her fear into putting it between her and the knife she was being attacked with. It was like being partially submerged in what she was seeing at the time, every detail when it’s usually pretty hazy. Until yesterday it was the strongest I ever felt an image come through to me and even then, it was something that had already happened. Not like yesterday. I took your hand and I knew what you were seeing. I don’t think I saw her at all. I think you did and I just saw what you did.”

Ted’s gaze shifted from Cody. “I wouldn’t want to put you through that,” he almost whispered. “It’s not always like that, sometimes it’s just like talking to some stranger who’s perfectly fine, perfectly normal. But then sometimes it’s like it was yesterday and I can’t choose which way they’re gonna appear to me.”

“It wasn’t something I’d invite either,” Cody said honestly. “But what I mean is – well, we were connected. I was able to act because it was about you. And you were able to show me what you saw. There’s a connection between us and it’s not just on an emotional level. I know how it sounds Teddy but it’s like we’re meant to be together and yesterday was almost a uh, physical validation, if that makes any sense. Didn’t you feel the same?”

Ted nodded slowly. What he had actually felt, once he was over the shock that Cody could see the same thing that he could and he’d reminded himself that the dead people he saw couldn’t harm either one of them, was a crashing wave of sheer relief. It was one thing for people to say they believed him, that knowing the things he couldn’t know without the dead telling him was some kind of real proof. It helped that he knew there were those who were genuinely won over and believed him without question, the way that Cody did, or Randy, or John. It was another thing altogether to know someone else could see what he did, that there was honest, real proof and there could never be a doubt again. He was so used to scepticism that knowing Cody had experienced it, even if it was a one-off, quelled many of his self-doubts. And although he had often felt lonely, being the only person who saw what he did, that feeling had abated a great deal since Cody had come into his life – and that Cody had experienced it, if only for a moment, made him feel even less alone. 

“I knew it all along,” he confessed with a slight smile. “But I know what you mean. I still wouldn’t have chosen for you to see her – she wasn’t one of the prettier spirits I ever saw, most of them don’t appear looking like that. But I’m kinda glad you did, even if it is for my own selfish reasons.”

“I wouldn’t change it,” replied Cody. “Although I was crapping my pants.” He hesitated. “Do you think she’s still there?”

“I have no idea.” Ted frowned a little. “She might be. I never saw anyone get killed in front of me before, I don’t know that she wouldn’t have moved on and everyone who dies stands there for a while ‘til whatever happens next happens. I only see people that were murdered though. I didn’t see the father once he was dead for that reason. I don’t see everyone and I don’t see them once they do – I suppose they move on. I haven’t seen Dazzle, she’s long gone too. But if everyone hung around then I’d see a lot more people than I do. She might have gone on to whatever. The dead tend to have a reason to still be there, even if it’s just a message they want someone to get. I don’t see that she has that. She knows that the man who killed her is dead, although maybe she’s afraid of what might be waiting for her on the other side. I think she’ll already be gone though.”

Cody was quiet for long moments. “Are you going to go back to check?”

Ted let his eyes close for a moment. “I have to. I won’t be able to rest until I know for sure and I can find out what reason she might have to stay. But not today. Not any time soon. Probably not ‘til after Morrison’s trial. I don’t think I can. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to give her any help at all, not after what she did to you. I’ll go back but not ‘til all that’s done with.”

“You won’t be going to Morrison’s trial?”

“I don’t know.” Ted tried to smile but it was sickly and weak. “It’ll probably be in another court room – can you imagine if Morrison found out he was being tried where his wife died? That’d probably end up grounds for a mistrial knowing his lawyer. I can’t judge that she won’t be able to wander through the rooms though, or even if she ends up bound to the court at all. And it was her I wanted to see put away, not so much him. He was in on it but I never usually attend the trials of anyone and I was only at Melina’s because it was personal. I might not go at all... not if there’s a chance of her seeking me out.”

“You’re scared something she has to say might affect the trial?”

Ted shrugged. “If she said something that could be proven and that could affect it, I might have to speak out. It wouldn’t be right not to – but I don’t want him to get off when he doesn’t deserve it. People died, kids died and it might not all have been his fault but enough of it was that I wanna see him go away for it.”

“Then we won’t go to court.”

Ted frowned deeper. “I didn’t mean that you shouldn’t go if you wanna, or that I wouldn’t go with you if you wanted me to—“

“I know and it doesn’t matter. If it disturbs you that much, then I don’t want to put you through it. And after yesterday, I don’t know that I ever wanna be inside another court room again.” Cody smiled at Ted and moved a little to kiss him, missing his lips and catching the tip of his nose instead, laughing a little as Ted looked both surprised and amused. “We’ll stay home and hear about it on the TV. Let John and Randy give us the reports.” He licked his lips with the tip of his tongue. “There was one other thing. I uh, I’m gonna discharge myself from the rehab centre.”

“Cody—“

“Hear me out. I’ve been coming on while I’ve been there and I’ve been working when I’ve not been stretched like some torture victim and I’ve gotten to see you every day. It’s been great for me and I’d probably be nowhere near as healthy as I am now without it. But I’m down to daily walks and an hour or so and it’s nothing I can’t do in outpatients. I don’t need to be on a drip for the painkillers and I don’t think I can benefit much more. I was gonna wait ‘til after the trial I know, but now she’s not getting a trial and his isn’t the one that mattered as much to us. I think we can move it all forward.” He smiled self-consciously. “If you’re still up for having me stay here.”

“Are you serious?” Ted’s arms wrapped around Cody, a grin on his face. “Nothing would make me happier. Nothing. I just don’t want you to skip your therapy to do this early—“

“It’s been months. I think I’ve had all the in-house therapy I need and I can get on with getting on.” Cody moved his hand slyly over the front of Ted’s boxers, awaking the blonde’s interest again. “And if I knew I was gonna be waking up to this every morning, I might have signed myself out earlier.”

“Cody,” Ted said in a voice that wasn’t entirely steady. “Your back—“

“Is just fine. Although I think my legs might need a workout.” Cody winked. “You feel like wrapping them ‘round your neck, helping me with my stretches?”

In the end, Ted thought he did quite well helping Cody find the perfect position to work out all his muscles in. 

~:~

“He’s going to trial.” 

Heyman stopped pacing the room long enough to glare at Punk as he made his decision. “He’s going to trial, I’m gonna make sure he goes to trial. This was supposed to be the trial that made my name, and yours. I’m not letting some gun-happy asshole screw this up for me. No way.”

Punk had elected to sit in the chair usually reserved for Heyman, right behind the man’s rather ostentatious mahogany desk, his feet on the highly polished wood. There was a Chinese take-out on his lap and every so often he would use chopsticks to shovel noodles into his mouth. Punk occasionally flirted with veganism but was currently playing hard to get, dropping some chicken into his waiting mouth. “Are we even gonna have an angle?”

“We’ll find one.” Heyman started pacing again, Punk watching him idly and apparently without a care in the world as he ate. “He’s on suicide watch in the jail right now. They think he’s gonna top himself and if he does, I’m gonna bring him back from the dead just so I can kick his ass. No one screws with Paul Heyman like this.”

Punk smirked a little. “I’m not sure that this was some set up just to screw with you.”

“It had to be. What a French fire drill.” Heyman growled slightly and continued pacing. “Here’s the deal. You talked to Morrison? What did he say about the trial?”

“He said he didn’t give a shit. That was at first. He said he wanted to just plead guilty and take whatever AJ Lee’s offering for the deal. She was still holding out for life with the possibility after twenty. He didn’t give a shit that it’s completely unreasonable. So I talked to him a little more. He’s more worried about losing his wife and that he might end up not being able to plan the funeral, much less go. I told him we need to be thinking about the trial, not the funeral and he finally got with the programme. He agreed that it might just be important to clear his wife’s name.”

Heyman raised his eyebrows. “You sold him on that?”

“Wasn’t easy. He wanted to know what the hell good it would do her now. I reminded him that if he took the guilty plea, the whole thing would be forgotten and she’d go down in history as a child killer. Even if he pled for both the dead kids, they’d say it was her and he’d been railroaded while he was grieving. That pissed him off.”

Heyman broke into a grin. “I like how you think.”

“So he agreed that he’d still take the trial. But now, we have to sell her memory rather than her freedom. And that’ll create the doubt he was after. After all, why would he confess to it all now, when he could just off it on her and have done with it?”

“We change our angle.” Heyman stopped, steepling his fingers and thinking hard. “We can push it onto her now. We can sell him on it. Melina was the one who killed, who kidnapped, who talked him into it – she wasn’t the only one who lost a child remember. But she was a good person and grieving and he went along with it to make her happy. He knows that he did wrong, did something terrible, but it wasn’t his fault and he just wants the truth of her condition to come out. He doesn’t much care about himself now, but he thinks he should be able to set the record straight.” He smirked, shark-like. “We play on their sympathies, we do this just right and we could get him off with misdemeanours.”

“You think?”

“Hell, she did it all and he just kept his mouth shut. Aiding and abetting, before and after the fact. A couple years perhaps but if we get that for the kidnapping and after the fact for the deaths, he could be out in five.”

Punk considered it, Chinese forgotten, a slow smile coming over his face. “It’s do-able.”

“If we’re very good and very lucky. But I think we can.” Heyman clapped his hands together twice, unable to hide his glee. “I always said Morrison was gonna be my OJ Simpson, guilty as hell and with just enough to get him off. They’re gonna think of lawyers, they think of Corcoran, they think of me – and you,” he added hastily. “We’ll be the best, able to name our price, the go-to men when the rich and famous land in hot water. Open a firm and charge a few thousand bucks an hour.”

“The best in the world.”

“Easy street.” Heyman turned abruptly, grabbing some books from the shelf and dropping them on the desk. “Come on. I don’t want the trial postponed and we need to work this angle, so start working!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Punk reached out and snagged a book, checking out the title and deciding to move on to something a little more helpful. To him, the money was incidental. It was all about the power, the possibilities, being the best and pissing off the rest. That was what he craved and if Heyman was right, this might be the biggest, best chance he ever got.

~::~

The way John and Randy proposed to one another would go down in their friends’ histories as the dumbest moment ever, and yet an annoyingly perfect moment all the same.

Said moment happened when John and Randy had gotten together for dinner one evening a few days after Cody had moved himself into the house (they had been less than impressed with his early check-out either but once Wade had given them a second opinion A-OK, and reminded them that Cody was only to be residential there as long as he wanted to, they had been forced to concede to his wishes) and the drama from the trial/shooting had gone down somewhat. Cody and Ted were at home, insisting that they’d just order out and have a quiet evening in--- though Randy had whispered to John as they headed out that he felt that they wouldn’t be doing entirely quiet things if the noises he’d heard the other morning were anything to go by. John had been sleeping in the office for the third night running on that morning and so hadn’t been there to bear audible witness but he still blushed beet red at Randy’s unashamed commentary.

Anyway, they had been having dinner at one of their favourite restaurants, the pair of them dressed up since it felt like forever and a day since they’d had time for a real date, had a few drinks, and then decided to walk home as they had walked there. It was a clear, pleasant night, weather totally belying the slightly overcast and cold atmosphere that had surrounded their city of late.

“Good food huh?”

“It’s always good food in there.”

“Lucky we don’t mind using up the same places huh?” when they wanted to eat out properly they used that particular mixed cuisine restaurant as much as they did the same Chinese and Regular takeaway.

“We’re getting old!” Randy exclaimed with mock-horror as he clung to John’s arm and pretended to fall into him, “John, we’re stuck in a rut!” he choked out as though he had just professed to the idea that they were being chased by the boogeyman that terrified the crud out of you when you were a child.

“We’re not old.”

“Well,” Randy’s grin was catty and wicked, “I’m not quite as old as you.”

John’s brows arched, “Yet.”

Randy pouted.

Chuckling, John slipped an arm around his partner’s middle, comfier than reaching around his shoulder to walk. Technically speaking there was about two, three inches between them at a push but Randy was undeniably lankier than his broad self and that made all of the difference. Randy’s arm automatically went around his shoulder and they walked together with a comfortable air that suggested that they had walked that way one and a thousand times over. The fact that they remained standing was a testament to the fact that they were not hammered though as when they’d been really caning the booze they were notorious for falling all over the place whether they had one another to hold each other up or not.

“It’s a great night huh?”

“Is there any particular reason you’re waxing poetic about everything?” Randy asked, though this time his tone was more curious than mocking.

Raising his eyes skyward John shrugged, “I dunno,” he mused, “I guess I’m just feeling happy.” A full belly, some drinks, good company and the prospect of actually getting to sleep in his own bed alongside his lover that night, not having to wake up until lunch for a well-earned half-day John had every reason to be cheerful. Oh, of course he’d been in a bad mood the last few days because of what had happened to Melina (although when he tried to explain to Randy just exactly what had put him in a bad mood where his partner was sound on the fact that she had gotten what she deserved) but after some of that puissant mandatory counselling that the precinct had put him through, and a good kick in the pants from Jericho of all people, John had started to move on and accept what had happened as the end of it.

Justice hadn’t been served in the societal sense that was all. However Dazzle’s father had gone to his grave getting his daughter the vengeance he felt she was owed. Was it excusable to be a vigilante? Legally speaking no… but in this instance if that had been my kid you could bet I’d’ve done the same… Only with a gun about five times the size of that little pistol.

John hadn’t been able to argue with that profound point.

“Marry me.”

The effect would have (and indeed was, although John swore to Randy afterwards that it wasn’t and that he hadn’t laughed even the teeniest bit) made an excellent movie for one of those home-video funnies that he sometimes resorted to at work when it was late and he knew there was no way of getting either home or sleep; Randy went careening into a nearby gutter, long arms windmilling desperately to keep himself upright, his balance seemingly deserting him entirely as he crashed down with a resounded heavy bump and clang, a hissed profanity cracking through the formerly calm night air like a whipcrack.

“Motherfucker!”

“Not recently.”

Randy didn’t react to John’s (admittedly weak) joke, eyes wide as they looked up at his partner. 

He should have looked ridiculous, John would think to himself later that evening as they lay in bed together, Randy on his front and begging him with his body to hurry and go deeper, deeper! But he didn’t. In that moment, in the gutter in the still damp night, surrounding by the reflections of nearby lamplights and the few latent little shops that led the way to their moderately private suburb, Randy Orton had never looked more beautiful and perfect to him.

Bending down and extending a hand, John held Randy’s eyes and repeated the question that had been burning in the back of his mind and yet teetering on the very tip of his tongue for days since he had thought about taking the plunge.

“Marry me.”

Seconds stretched on and Randy remained sprawled out in the drain, probably lucky that no cars were heading past that day or else he would have likely been in pretty big trouble. The hand that had previously been so steady waiting to aid him then faltered; had he moved too fast? They had been together longer than most marriages lasted these days, so where had the harm been in assuming that one day they’d try their hand at it? He could have sworn that Randy was at least open to the idea because he hadn’t ever scoffed when John had confessed that someday, somehow, he wanted to be married and maybe have a kid or two to dote on. Oh, sure, people advised against it to some degree, but they were a steady couple with their own home and good incomes as well as exemplary characters (as long as you didn’t look at some details of Randy’s youth too closely) so who was to say they wouldn’t be good enough parents for some poor little sprog out there somewhere with nothing? Or with a situation so bad it would almost be better if they had nothing?

“Why do you always have to steal my ideas?”

This time John was the one who almost fell into the gutter.

“W-What did you say?” honestly he wasn’t sure he’d heard whether he had what he thought. Still, he hadn’t heard a ‘no’, imagined or not so that had to be a good sign right?

Finally Randy took his hand and hauled himself upright and then reached into his jacket pocket. Keeping his hand in the bemused blues of his lover’s sight, he then opened his fist and showed the little velvet box that he had been keeping on him almost like some kind of talisman for the past few weeks.

Numbly, John reached into his own pocket and produced a similar box.

“Well I’ll be jiggered.”

“When we get home, maybe.”

They flashed brief smiles before then reaching and opening their ring boxes at the same time, revealing strikingly similar and yet wholly individual pieces of jewellery that would symbolise their commitment for everyone else to see.

“So, is that a yes?”

“Most expensive yes ever.”

 

~::~

“Mhm.”

“Evan, phone.”

“Mhm…”

“Evvieeeee~~”

“Chrissieeeeee~”

The covers were whipped back from over his head smartly and Evan moaned in protest and rolled onto his front, Chris’ admonishment to the younger dying on his lips momentarily as he took in the rounded, taunt buttocks and the smooth, unblemished skin of the compact form before him. Well, formerly unblemished might have been more accurate, Chris thought with a mild blush as his backside throbbed tellingly, the nail marks down Evan’s back reassuring him that he did indeed take that age-old step no one else of his past number of significant others had convinced him to do.

And it had been fucking fantastic.

“You did not just call me Chrissie?”

“You are not waking me up before it’s even light outside on a day when we don’t have to be inwork?” ah yes, the rare, almost legendary joint day off; something any couple in the same business could attest to as being impossible to obtain usually. This time though they were lucky, or the higher-ups had taken pity on them and decided to give them some time after everything… Evan was more convinced that he was one day going to find the end of a rainbow and come across a leprechaun shitting gold into a pot to hand out before that would happen.

Their bosses could hardly be considered as being known for their compassion.

“If it wasn’t important I wouldn’t.”

“Who said it was important?”

“He said he was your brother.”

“My brother?”

Evan’s eyes opened then, mild suspicion underlying them; he and his brother got on fine enough and they met up at the folks’ homestead now and again for family do’s but they lived numerous states away from one another and didn’t keep in touch all that often in between; they usually just saved everything for the bigger catch-ups.

Accepting the phone from Chris, who then proceeded to climb back into bed and start peppering faint, teasing, tickling kisses along the length of Evan’s spine, “Hello?”

“Hey honey, you missed me?”

A cold sensation replaced the heat left by Chris’ kisses at the sound of that voice, but instead of feeling cowed by that age-old shame Evan just felt more annoyed. It was one thing to have a blast from your past but to be harassed by it? And the annoying thing was he doubted anything like this would have happened (i.e. he and Punk crossing paths) had this whole child-kidnapping-killing situation now happened. Of course he felt awful then even though no one else could see in his head for he could hardly blame any of the poor children involved for that. He wasn’t scared to blame the deceased psychotic woman or her equally psychotic husband though; if it wasn’t for them, and the fact that Evan had to go to trial to present evidence against them, then he would likely never have crossed Punk again.

He’d always said he’d sooner eat his own testicles than go back to a high school reunion.

“What do you want?” he asked, voice dry as sandpaper and hopefully indicating that he didn’t want this to be a long chat, “And how did you get this number?” speaking of which why hadn’t Chris thought anything odd about no name coming up on his caller ID on his phone? Well, maybe he’d felt impolite enough answering the phone for him that he just hadn’t thought? Lord only knew Evan would probably do something like that even though the usual instinct was to look.

Immediately Chris’ kisses stopped and he lifted his head, sending Evan a small look. Evan merely shook his head and prayed that Chris would just let him field the call; Punk was the kind of narcissist that he thought if he was still having some kind of impact on Evan’s life, whether that impact was negative or positive, that he was doing some kind of job well done. He’d always been a pretty zealous and twisted individual, though (if what Evan had heard about Heyman was true and he had no reason to doubt that it was) that was likely to have manifested itself to an unnerving level being coaxed and trained by an equally twisted man with extreme delusions of grandeur.

“Surely you know either council can consult either sides witnesses?”

“I’m not a witness.”

“Don’t be pedantic Ev, you know you’re an expert witness.”

Something about that tone had Evan grinding his teeth, “And you thought it was appropriate to call me at—“he hastily consulted the clock he had on his bedside table, “Five-thirty in the morning?”

“Did I interrupt something?” and was it Evan, or did Punk sound almost annoyed at that?

“As a matter of fact you did,” Evan said with a tart rudeness that he didn’t recall ever using on anyone in his life before, “And I’d like to get back to it. If you want to discuss your client’s case, though if you think I’m going to help the defence you’re way off, then you can call me back at a more reasonable time. Goodbye.” Since turning his phone off was a no-go in case work intervened and ruined his and Chris’ lazy day, Evan merely switched it onto vibrate and then tossed it carelessly in the same general direction his jeans had gone the night before.

“We were in the middle of something?” Chris asked with mild amusement, though the amusement soon became heated as Evan’s arms curled around his neck and drew their bodies close, the thinnest sheet keeping their nakedness separated for the moment.

“No,” Evan admitted honestly, giving Chris a look that never failed to get his motor running, Evan feeling the blonde man swelling against his thigh with a rapid eagerness that he was sure many people wouldn’t believe him over in collusion with Chris’ age—though as Evan would insist Chris was still more than capable of matching up to himself and his needs even if he was the younger of their pair. “But we soon can be, interested?”

“Damn right I am,” and just like that the phone-call was forgotten (for the moment anyway).


	28. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Going For Broke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Randy breaks his big news to Cody and the trial of John Morrison resumes with Evan having to face his ex-boyfriend Punk as he takes the witness-stand.

Cody gritted his teeth as he made his way around the kitchen. Once upon a time he would have skipped around had he felt so inclined, probably switching on the radio and having a little dance. Of course in those days he would have been back in his own place and cooking for one, so it wasn’t exactly as if he was missing it… he just really, really wanted his legs back to normal. They were all kinds of better but every so often he really noticed what he was missing. And given that Ted had been left lying in bed and Cody had chosen that morning to make his way to the kitchen without those damned crutches for the first time, he was really noticing. He hadn’t expected that he would he dancing around but nor had he expected that it would be so slow. And his legs were already starting to ache, there was a lead weight in his back – and he didn’t care. It was only breakfast dammit and he was going to cook. 

Randy came wandering in, a lazy smile on his face, wearing nothing but a robe. He paused when he saw Cody at the oven. “You okay there?”

“Fine,” said Cody, trying not to sound like he was anything but, he didn’t really want the help when he had told himself he was doing this alone. Still, he hadn’t realised how much he had come to depend on the crutches. “You want some of this?”

“What you cooking?”

“Bacon, eggs, sausage.”

“Ted’s favourite?” Randy chuckled a little. “Nah, I’m gonna just grab some juice for me and John. Depending on how long Morrison’s trial goes on for and when they get around to calling John to give evidence, might be a while before we have a lazy morning like this one. Want some?”

“Nah, I’m making coff—“ Cody stopped dead as he saw the ring on Randy’s left hand. “Oh. My. GOD! Is that...?”

“Oh, this little thing.” Randy ducked his head a little but there was no hiding the grin on his face. “Yeah. John’s gonna make an honest man of me.”

“He asked you?”

“Well yeah, but uh, he kinda got there first. I was gonna ask him...” Randy laughed suddenly. “Didn’t Ted tell you I was planning this?”

“Oh, he knew did he?”

“Don’t yell at him, I did ask him to keep it to himself. It was gonna be a big surprise, except John got there first.”

Cody shook his head, amused. “Only you two would be that much in sync that you do joint proposals. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Randy winked. “You wanna be bridesmaid?”

“You wanna wear this bacon?”

“But you’d look real cute in a dress—“

Cody made a threatening gesture with the pan and Randy made as if he was ducking, still chuckling to himself, his smile becoming a frown as he noticed Cody wincing a little, limping as he went back to the stove. “You okay?”

“Fine,” said Cody shortly. “Just getting used to walking without the crutches. Doctor reckons that I’m due.” He didn’t mention that the doctor had actually said he was closing in on being ready; he wanted to be well ahead of the game.

“Well, don’t overdo it,” said Randy and left it at that, well aware that Cody was stubborn enough that simply telling him off wouldn’t change his ways – well, maybe if Ted were to do it and even then it was a big maybe. “I’m taking this back to bed. I may be some time.”

“Newlyweds,” said Cody, affecting world-weariness. 

“Not yet,” said Randy, smirking. “We’ll be worse then.” He winked and headed out, leaving Cody to shake his head and smile to himself as he managed to serve the food onto a couple of plates. That done, he sat down for a moment. Standing for so long without the crutches for support was more tiring than he’d realised.

It was only a few moments later when he heard voices and recognised one as Ted’s – he had probably run into Randy as they crossed paths. Sure enough, Ted walked into the kitchen a moment, later, Cody’s crutches in hand and a worried look on his face. 

“What’re you doing?”

“Making breakfast,” said Cody. “It’s just on the side there—“

“Codes.” Ted put the crutches to one side (although in easy reach, Cody noted). “You don’t have to do this, push yourself too hard—“

“I know.” Cody raised his eyebrows. “But I need to. It’s taking so long, I’m starting to feel like I’ll never get better. I need to do everything I can, even if I might be pushing it a little bit. I mean, it’s only breakfast. I shouldn’t have to ask for help to make bacon and eggs.”

He half-expected Ted to argue and was rather surprised when the blonde just nodded, not looking entirely happy but not seeming pissed off either. “I can understand that I guess. Just don’t overdo it. I don’t want you having a setback.” He grinned suddenly. “Or else I might not get my breakfast any time in the future.”

Cody smiled. “Who said this isn’t just a one-off?”

“It’d better not be.” Ted got up, getting the plates that Cody had left on the side and putting one in front of his lover before tucking in to the other. “You can cook. I can burn water. I think once you’re off the crutches, this can be your job every day.”

Cody rolled his eyes. “And there’s my reason for not overdoing it. The longer I’m hopping around, the longer I can avoid being your slave—“

“You weren’t complaining last night.”

Cody pulled a face at Ted, blushing a little and Ted smirked before turning back to his breakfast 

~:~

Chris had gotten into the habit of walking Evan to the lab whenever their shifts coincided, which wasn’t as often as they would have liked but since it was well known they were an item, they did manage it more than they might have done – the higher-ups weren’t against making schedules fit around family as much as possible and their dating was not a secret. They were a little surprised to find AJ sitting at Evan’s desk, hair pulled back, wearing dark pants and an oversized shirt, hair pulled back. She looked a little tired but Evan wasn’t sure he could blame her.

“Hey AJ,” he said casually. 

“How’re you coping?” asked Chris, rather more bluntly.

AJ gave a little smile and a shrug. “Not too bad, considering I’m preparing for a trial that’s at the forefront of the media, fighting to put away a guy whose wife died in my arms.”

Chris grimaced. “When you put it like that...”

“It’ll be okay,” she said with a trace of steel in her voice. “I just need to get this over and done with.”

“Couldn’t you ask someone else to try this one?” asked Evan, a little worriedly. He hadn’t thought that AJ might be about to crack after the scenes that had occurred during the last aborted trial. 

“I could, but I know this case and no one else does, not like I do. Someone else takes it, we’ve got another delay. And you can just bet Heyman and Punk would love that.” She sighed. “No, I’m gonna get through this and put that asshole away. And I need you for that. Ev, I need to go through your testimony with you and prepare you for whatever the other side might throw at you. They already agreed that you could be the witness for both sides.”

Evan almost choked. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, they’ll have someone else there as well, don’t worry about that. But they’re not trying to discredit you in court, or accuse you of seeing the evidence from one side only. As far as I can work out, they’ll be questioning you as to why the evidence might point away from Morrison.”

“As far as you can tell?” 

“They’re playing this one weird. I don’t know what they’re playing at but even now, they seem to be wanting to put the whole thing on a series of accidents and bad decisions.” AJ shrugged again. “I don’t know. But you need to be prepared. They’ll cross-examine you to the extent that they’ll want you to contradict yourself, or admit that the evidence there might be interpreted some other way. And then they’ll cut you off before you can explain yourself properly.”

Chris frowned. “You’re really worried about this.”

“I’m just stressed. It’s not every day I start a trial and end up getting shot at. You might even say, it was a first for me.”

Evan shook his head. “The thing is AJ, I can’t change what the evidence says. And it doesn’t conclusively point to violence.”

“You’ve got brains all over the damned statue. Forget the second kid, we’ve got eye-witnesses that place her with Perez before she died. The first one, who got her brains beat out. That’s the kid we need to get him for and you’ve got evidence that’s the murder weapon. You’re also sure it was him, not her. Why?”

“Uh...” Evan could hardly say it was because a psychic said so, and also that said psychic had led him to finding the evidence in the first place. On top of that, apparently it had been almost accidental, from what the victim said, but that didn’t mean Evan thought he should be let off with it. The way that child and the others had been treated was criminal and Morrison was implicit in that. “I guess because of her statement that he did it, even if by accident. I’ve got evidence enough to show he hid it.”

“I’m not sure it’s gonna be enough.” AJ chewed on her lip nervously. “We might not get the murder conviction. Even the Perez woman said the kid fell before she died. There was some kind of pushing match – but it’s not like she can be cross examined. I’m not liking this—“

“AJ, chill.” Chris leaned against the wall and favoured her with one of his charming smiles. “Think about it. Maybe a murder charge won’t stick but a manslaughter one might, given the eyewitness testimony—“

“They’ll fight to keep that out, now she’s dead.”

“So you fight to keep it in. You’ve got eight counts of kidnap, child endangerment, false imprisonment, resisting arrest, any number of smaller charges. You’ll get him put away for all of those even if the murder doesn’t stick and he’ll go away ‘til shit sticks to the moon. That’s just a bonus. What’s to worry about?”

“A murder charge would carry the most time,” replied AJ archly. “That’s why it’s the one I want to get. And with Melina dead, there’s no reason they can’t pull the whole sad sob story that Vickie was about to pull in that courtroom, that Melina needed professional help and not jail. They could say the same about him, losing his child, mental break, trying to help his wife, blah blah. If I lose badly enough, he might end up getting only the misdemeanour counts – that’s aiding and abetting a crime, before and after. He gets a sympathetic judge and he might end up with time served.”

Evan sighed. “And you think the DNA evidence is crucial to getting him put away?”

“You’ve got the murder weapon, evidence of a clean-up job. They tried to conceal the crime rather than go to the authorities and they’ll argue about the illegal adoption sure, but – off topic. I need you to hold it together in court and make sure that things go our way. That means not getting dragged into a slanging match with Punk and he will try to drag you into one Ev – you know it, if you know him even a little bit. Stick entirely to the facts that highlight his guilt. Try to emphasise how unlikely any other scenario is. I’m not just counting on you Ev, but you could make this case so much stronger. These days, everyone watches the crime dramas and they all want their conclusive DNA. I need you to give it to them.”

“I can’t tell them what’s not there—“

“Just – twist your words, because if you don’t then Punk’ll do it for you.” AJ managed a slight smile. “Let Chris teach you how, I’ve seen him in court before and he’s pretty good at it.” She rose, rubbing a temple with her hand. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get on with this.”

She walked out of the door and the men watched, Chris unusually not so worried about getting to his own section of the building to start his shift. “She’s losing it. That’s the last thing we need.”

“She did just see someone killed in front of her.”

“She wasn’t playing with a full deck to start with.” Chris sighed, kissing Evan on the cheek. “I’ll see you later on, okay?”

“Sure,” said Evan absently, although he already knew that the day would drag. Usually he didn’t have to worry about anything but the evidence, now he had to freak out about semantics and the new and interesting ways Punk could humiliate him this time – and in front of Chris too. Life wasn’t fair. 

~::~

“Were you teasing Cody again?”

“Teasing? Me? Just how old do you think I am?”

John peeked up at Randy as his fiancé (and that word still sent disbelieving tingles down his spine even now) from where he had his face otherwise buried into his pillow and smirked just a touch, “Sometimes not old enough. The way you carry on makes me feel like I’m doing something dirty half of the time.”

Waggling his eyebrows suggestively Randy then climbed back into bed after shedding his robe and setting the two glasses of juice on the bedside table, “Well, technically speaking, you usually are doing something dirty when I’m involved.”

“You never stop do you?”

“Why the hell would I?” Randy pressed a kiss to the smooth muscle between John’s shoulder-blades and felt the small tell-tale wriggle that told him he had the other’s full and undivided attention. “Specially not when it’s really obvious that you don’t want me to.”

“I have to go into the office—“John murmured, though his voice was already growing husky as Randy’s lips found the shell on his ear, sucking and nipping in a teasing, borderline painful way that oddly, never failed to speak to John’s libido.

“Not until later,” Randy returned without hesitation, speaking directly into John’s ear, “Now, are you going to be a good boy and lay back so I can take my fill of your cock or are you that determined to have a go on mine again?”

That kind of choice was so not fair.

Turning his head a little more and arching a brow John then rolled onto his back and placed his hands behind his head in a casual gesture, completely belying the fact that he was hard as a pole and eager to get going, “After the rounds we had last night I’m surprised you’re up for it.”

“Well, they say sex stops once you get married,” Randy teased as he started to sink down onto the waiting shaft, “So I’m ensuring I get some before that happens.”

 

~::~

A heavy sigh rent the otherwise contented silence, “I can’t do it.”

Chris looked up, fork pausing part-way to his mouth, “What’s the matter?”

They were dining together in Chris’ office since eating more than snack bars in the lab was unhygienic and the communal dinning space wasn’t very conducive to private conversations even when things calmed down on the late shift. They were gorging on some of their standard Chinese takeaway, Chris having long since been brought into the tradition by Evan and John once he’d started spending more time around the pair at work. John himself had actually managed to get home that night after ordering food (he’d gotten enough that he could take home for his partner and house-mates it seemed) but Evan had told Chris he’d probably remain a bit later. Since he was in no hurry to return back to his place without Evan accompanying him Chris had insisted that he could wait it out for the other to be ready to go.

“I can’t… I’m not good when it comes to interaction like that,” Evan bit his lip, unaware of the small smattering of sauce remaining at the corner of his mouth, “You know I’m no good at anything but the facts, and the truth as best I can tell it from the facts.” The whole idea of spinning things so he didn’t have to admit the whole truth if he didn’t want to didn’t really sit well with him even though he agreed wholeheartedly that Morrison deserved to be put away as much as his wife would have been.

“Evan…” Chris’ expression softened a fraction, reaching out and cupping the other’s cheek, thumb absently wiping the sauce away much to Evan’s embarrassment when he realised, “Don’t think of it as lying, OK? What we have done is collected the evidence and arrested the people that correspond with the evidence. Yes, one of those people is gone but there is still one left that is dangerous and needs to be put away for what he’s done.” Sure, the jury would likely have some measure of sympathy for the whole psychotic-wife act but who was honestly going to believe that a man with the ego and personality as Morrison did, that Melina walked all over him and convinced him that something so fundamentally wrong was alright?

“But… He’ll catch me out,” the whispered words hung heavy with clear shame so deep that Chris could all but feel it dripping from each syllable.

“Who?” Chris asked with carefully measured calm although he already had a feeling that he knew perfectly well who Evan meant.

“Punk,” Evan seemed to shudder, arm going around his middle in a gesture that he obviously didn’t notice and didn’t realise he was doing but that had Chris frowning in concerned puzzlement. So absorbed was he in trying to understand why Evan would hold onto himself like that that he almost missed the other speaking, “He just has this way of doing things like that. He’s always been able to really get people onside for his words.”

A brow arched, “What, you mean like he has his own cult?”

An almost bitter laugh left Evan, “A cult? Yeah, that’s one way of looking at it. Though maybe calling it a cult of personality might be more accurate. It was always about the charisma, and the ego.”

~::~

“John, listen to me, this is the best way for you, and for Melina,” Paul made sure to put on a sombre, sympathetic face, “God-rest her. We can get people onside, I mean, you know better than anyone that Melina only wanted to make things better didn’t she? And you,” Punk had to admit he was impressed; top-class slime-ball Paul may be considered but the man had technique. As in, it almost sounded as though he actually cared about the man before them. Had Punk not been well-versed in his manners and abilities, and known this for a fact thanks to their prior conversations, he would have even possibly been taken in by it.

Let’s just hope that the jury were all a bunch of sympathetic idiots.

“—you just wanted to make her happy didn’t you?” he murmured in the same cooing tone of reassurance he had been speaking in when Punk had first tuned out of the conversation. “You wanted to do what any good husband would do for the woman he loves and take away her pain, didn’t you?” it was posed as a question, but something in the tone just made you feel like you had to agree with him. Morrison, who had emphatically stated over and over that his wife was not at fault and he had done everything he had for her sake, didn’t even seem to be hesitating as he eagerly responded to what was said as it was what he wanted.

An accident their first little girl died, they were both so devastated.

Honestly? He hadn’t known about the second one (that was mildly problematic in one sense but a God-send in the other; Melina could take most of the rap for that and as long as Morrison played along and kept his mouth shut all would be well, because corpses couldn’t contest things said against them could they?)

The other children, Melina had been so wonderful with them. Of course he’d recognised eventually that they would have to have been returned to their families, but their families were so pitiful was it wrong of his wife to want to give them a better life? She tended them so well, was so loving and caring, happily played with them for hours once their lessons had finished for the day.

As he and Paul headed out of the interview room they had managed to book to speak to their client to ostensibly go and fetch more coffee (the stuff was absolutely disgusting and Paul never liked drinking it any more than he had to but the clients always seemed to relax more when you did things on the mundane nature like that) Punk turned towards his mentor and said, “He is as fucking crazy as his wife, right?”

“Oh, I dunno if I’d say crazy, at least not in the legal sense,” Paul said mildly; both of them had recognised that they were in trouble for what they had done when they were confronted by the police after all, even if they had initially acted in a manner that they felt was right and were compelled to do, “But there’s definitely something a little twisted. Still, messed-up is as messed-up does; they probably fed one another,” a frown marred his face then and that was how Punk knew that Paul had just had a thought that he didn’t much like.

“What is it?” he asked absently.

“The fact that she fed him could either play in our favour or not,” although Morrison wanted to save his own skin he still wouldn’t not hear even a single whisper against his deceased wife; if they peaked too early and said the wrong thing too soon then he would immediately lash out and respond in a negative to them, and then all of their defence and everything they were working for would go down the drain faster than shit when you flushed the toilet… and the sewer was exactly where their own careers could go in no time at all should they have something like this happen.

“So we just make sure not to peak too early,” Punk said in that same unshakable confidence that had gained him as many admirers as it had dissenters.

They retrieved two new cups of the stale tasting wannabe coffee, and then started towards the interview room again. Hopefully John would still be in a mellow mood and the guards monitoring him hadn’t said anything to upset him; they seemed to have the tendency to do things like that even though they would blindly swear they never did anything wrong.

“That reminds me,” Paul’s shrewd, dark eyes turned towards Punk, “I wanted to ask you about something?”

“Yeah?” Punk asked as he snapped the top of his Pepsi away and then drained a good swallow of it; carbonated drinks were about the most addictive substance that he ever put in his body, but given the alternatives that others destroyed themselves with he thought his ‘addiction’ was pretty innocent, “What is it? If it’s about our opening speeches and the overall case facts I’ve already reorganised and retyped them the way that we’d discussed.”

“It’s not about the case,” Paul started amicably as they reached the interview room, “Well, not entirely.”

“Spit it out,” Punk said, easy-going enough.

For a moment Paul didn’t respond and then he slowly nodded, as though reaching a decision in his own mind, before saying, “What is it between you and the little lab-tech?”

“Lab-tech? Oh, you mean Evan,” Punk smirked slightly; for all he liked and respected Paul he knew the fact that he was out-and-proud about his bisexuality was something that the man had always been sketchy over. Of course he’d never dare admit in that day and age that he was outright homophobic but the thought was there. And Punk being what he was worth to Paul meant he was even less to comment. “We dated back in college for a while, that’s all.”

Sharp interest immediately set Paul’s eyes glittering like wicked little beetles, “You dated? Is there anything about him we can use to make him appear more favourably on our side?”

Technically speaking he was prosecution witness but they on the defence had free reign to call him outside of state’s witness if they felt like it, and suddenly that seemed like an even more promising lead than Paul had anticipated.

“Oh, I have the feeling that I can catch him up to speed the right way,” Punk smiled, unprofessional looking lip-ring glinting underneath the harsh fluorescent lights.

Paul wasn’t sure how he felt about leaving things as vaguely as that, but Punk was already re-entering the interview room, and they did still have a major client to prep for trial, so he swallowed a large drink of the revolting coffee and readied himself for a long night.

~::~

Morrison’s trial was held in the same building where his wife had been shot but in a different courtroom – it didn’t take a genius to work out that not only would be better able to mount an appeal should he be convicted if he was trying to defend himself in the same place she had been killed, and there were the other witnesses to think of; although those giving evidence weren’t in the room when Melina had been killed there were plenty of people who had been watching Melina’s trial who would be at Morrison’s to see some form of justice done, mostly the families of the kidnapped children. 

Two people who weren’t there were Ted and Cody, who had elected to stay away in case Melina was still lingering – had Cody insisted on going then Ted would have gone along no doubt, but Cody was less concerned with the outcome than he was with Ted. Randy went instead, claiming to anyone who questioned why that it was ‘entertainment’ but in truth he wanted to be the first to know should anything go wrong with the case and Morrison was back out walking the streets. The man had not only endangered the kids they’d taken, he’d threatened the well-being of John and Ted, and was indirectly responsible for Cody’s injury. That was his family and Randy was determined that it wasn’t about to happen again. He wanted to see the guilty verdict he was so very sure was coming. 

At least, he had been sure until the trial started. From the opening it was clear that there had been more going for a conviction against Melina than there was against Morrison. All the children claimed to have been approached by a lady before being taken, they all reported Morrison as being scary but distant, stand-offish to the point of disinterest and it was only Melina’s urging that made him take much notice of them. He hadn’t touched the kids themselves in any way whatsoever. And he made a very convincing grieving widower in the box, young and handsome but with an air of sadness, looking interested in proceedings only when his wife’s name was mentioned. 

Not that Randy mentioned that little fact when he went home that night and reported back to the others, nor did he mention that he had been uneasy throughout, not knowing if Melina was still there. 

AJ started the following day by using the testimony of all the children involved, who said that they had cried for their mothers in front of him and one or two had asked for his help, to no avail. Mostly Paul and Punk stayed silent as AJ pointed out the pertinent bits, the children themselves allegedly too traumatised to attend the trial. 

It wasn’t until the third day that AJ started to bring in the physical evidence that would either make the case or end up pushing it to the sympathies of the jurors and whether they pitied the families of the missing, or if it would be the man who had lost his adopted daughter and wife. AJ started off by showing pictures of the shed, then the small boxes that had been found within – and rather controversially, the remains that had been found in one of those boxes. 

“At four years old, Brandy’s name was changed to Theresa Morrison,” said AJ calmly, making sure that all the jurors got a good look at the pictures. “Illegally of course. There was no state approval here, Mr Morrison merely saw what his wife wanted and paid a woman who was desperate for a little more money and one less mouth to feed, a woman who thought her daughter was healthy and happy being brought up by a wealthy couple until she was contacted by police who had traced her daughters DNA. Theresa effectively vanished from the face of the earth until her body was found in Mr Morrison’s shed, badly decomposed and moved at least once. Theresa never went to school, she wasn’t allowed to play outside, or to do sporting activities. Those people who recall living Mr Morrison and his late wife... his late wife living nearby don’t remember them having a child, or don’t recall having ever seen her. Their children didn’t play with Theresa and on the rare occasions anyone asked after her, they were given excuses. Theresa was unknown and invisible, enough so that when she died it was an easy matter to cover up the crime—“

“Objection,” said Paul, almost casually. “There’s no evidence of a crime. What we have here is a tragic accident—“

“Isn’t that what we’re here to find out?” asked AJ with an innocent smile. 

The judge nodded agreement and AJ called Evan to the stand as her expert witness. Randy gave him a grin but Evan didn’t seem to see and he decided it might be as well. It occurred to him that between Evan and AJ the prosecution was starting to look like a bunch of kids barely out of college and that might not go down too well. 

Evan stated his name and job and when Evan presented the statue and asked if he recognised it, Evan nodded. “That’s the statue that we found in the garden at the original property.”

“Where did you find it? In the house?”

“No, the house had been emptied already. It was buried in the garden.”

“So, you’re telling us it had been hidden away.” AJ walked slowly in front of the stand where Evan was. “Did you conduct any tests on the statue?”

“Yes, I did.” Evan pushed his glasses up his nose a little, looking serious as he could when he felt a little ridiculous. “I checked it for microscopic fibres and DNA on certain uh, dried stains I detected on it.”

“And?”

“I found that there was DNA matching who I now know to be Theresa Morrison. We hadn’t found the body yet but were able to discover her identity, or former identity, through matching it with her biological mother. I also found trace DNA belonging to Melina Perez and John Morrison.”

“How could the DNA of the three parties have gotten there?”

Evan paused. “The statue had been wiped down prior to being buried. That doesn’t eliminate all DNA and microscopic traces of blood would have remained. It would have removed the DNA traces, those of Perez and Morrison, that remained on it.”

“What does that tell you?”

“That the DNA the adults left on the statue were left after the item was wiped.”

“So they handled the statue once the majority of the child’s blood had been cleaned from it?”

“That’s the most likely scenario.”

“I see.” AJ pasted a thoughtful look on her face. “Could the blood on the statue have been from, say, a cut? If the child cut her hand maybe and then picked the statue up?”

“Not very likely.” Evan gave a rather tight smile. “The blood can be clearly seen to have come from the cranium – there was tissue present that confirmed the origin.”

“So the blood on the statue came from the child’s brain?”

“Roughly speaking, yes.”

“Did you find anything else that would suggest there had been foul play in that house?”

Evan dutifully listed the things he had observed and tested, the mop and bucket left behind, the suspicion of bleach in the living room and the statue being buried in the middle of the lawn. AJ nodded and then moved on. “And I understand that you were the one to do tests on the uh, tissues of the tragic children found in the shed owned by Mr Morrison?”

“Yes, although I didn’t do the autopsies themselves.”

“And you can say without a shadow of a doubt that the blood on that statue came from the body of Theresa Morrison? From her brain?”

“Yes.”

“And that means that the statue would have been the thing to cause her death—”

“Objection,” said Paul immediately. “The witness just said he didn’t do the autopsy, he can’t confirm anything of the sort.”

“Sustained.”

“I’ll rephrase that.” AJ gave the jury a disarming smile, the kind that said, ‘uh-oh!’ More than one person smiled back in return, more an encouragement to continue than out of any kind of pleasure taken from the surroundings. “Could Theresa have been bleeding, from her brain onto that statue, and lived?” 

“I can’t say with absolute certainty that’s the case,” replied Evan confidently. “But I can tell you that that kind of bleed would have necessitated immediate hospital treatment in order for the child to not retain serious injuries. For it to bleed externally would have been noticeable and would have led to unconsciousness, eventual brain damage and potentially death.”

“And we know it wasn’t reported, no ambulance was called and the child did die. One last thing. Where on the statue did you find the blood?”

“The statue is an angel that was holding something up – I would guess at a sword because of the part in the hand but it’s been broken off. At the base of where the sword would have been is where the blood was found.”

“Thank you Mr Bourne.” AJ went back over to her desk and sat down. Evan’s smile became rigid as Punk stood to question him, just as he had known would be the case. 

“Mr Bourne.” Punk grinned affably at him. “What led you to finding the statue in the first place? You said it was buried in the lawn.”

“There was a part of the lawn that had clearly been recently disturbed,” replied Evan, his heart pounding. That wasn’t entirely true, but there was no way they could reveal the whole truth or they’d be laughed out of court. No one would trust the DNA evidence he gave if it was discovered a psychic had led him to it. His credibility would be wrecked. 

“How clearly?” 

“The patch had been replaced, which was odd since most of the house wasn’t worked too hard on and the rest of the lawn was intact. The landlords hadn’t given permission to replace the grass and hadn’t done it themselves.”

“So you thought it was a fair bet that a new patch of turf in a well maintained garden of an empty house was a good enough reason to start digging for DNA of a child that if Miss Lee is to be believed, no one even knew existed?” Punk raised a hand. “That’s rhetorical Mr Bourne. You say the letting agency hadn’t done the gardening. They knew you were there?”

“They gave us permission to look around, and the keys.”

“And why were you there?”

“The police were given a tip-off by a neighbour and John – Detective Cena – had a hunch that this one was solid.”

Punk looked amused, rather indulgent and Evan suddenly felt like the out-of-water teenager he had been when they had first met. “No. I meant, what were you doing there? You’re a crime scene worker, not an officer.”

Evan took a deep breath and prepared to skirt the truth. Damn, being in front of Punk would be so much easier if it wasn’t for the half-truths he had to keep telling, if there weren’t so much he had to be so very careful not to say. It would be even easier if Chris could be there in court with him. “There were a lot of missing children and a lot of officers had been covering it, but it was the first day there had been a photofit. They were stretched to the limit and as I said, Detective Cena thought this one was very solid. The department was short enough that he would have had to go alone and I had just finished my own shift for the day. He asked if I would go with him in case there was a diversion needed. John didn’t want to alert the suspects and so thought maybe I could knock on the door, bring someone out and then see if they fitted the description.”

“Wasn’t it careless of the Detective to put you in that situation?”

“Not really. It was highly unlikely that I’d get more than a door slammed in my face at worst. In any case, I’m prolific in self-defence and martial arts.” 

“But isn’t this unorthodox?”

Evan glared, wondering when the trial had stopped being about the evidence and started being about his role in police procedure. “Not especially. I look unthreatening and it’s not the first time that’s been used to with a potentially unstable suspect. And I am a member of the department. It was a completely legal and sensible move.”

“I’ll take your word for that,” said Punk dismissively and Evan felt his stomach clench as he realised he may have protested just enough to make it look like he was covering. “You found my clients DNA on the angel?”

“Yes, a trace.”

“May I ask what it was?”

“An eyelash.”

“I see. But there’s no fingerprints in strategic places around the base to suggest it was used as a weapon?”

“No. Any prints had been wiped—“

“Or didn’t exist in the first place. That eyelash does nothing but put my client in the proximity of the statue, does it? it doesn’t put the angel in his hand, it doesn’t disprove that this may have been an accident.”

Evan hated to say it but he hoped it didn’t show; dislike could make the jury question his motives in saying what he had. “No.”

“All it shows is that my client may well have put a dangerous object out of the way – in fact, you’ve said that it’s clearly a dangerous object.” 

“In my experience, such objects are rarely cleaned first, and then buried when there’s a bin in the house,” said Evan dryly, unable to help himself. 

“That’s conjecture your honour.”

“Mr Bourne,” said the judge. “Please refrain from personal commentary and stick to the facts.”

Evan stewed silently a moment as Punk made as if he was regaining his train of thought. “The statue does not prove murder conclusively, or manslaughter. Is this right?”

“Yes,” replied Evan, wishing he had something else to add that would blow the asshole out of the water. 

“All it really proves is that my client was around the statue, maybe even removing it on his poor wife’s request.” Punk turned his eyes on Evan and it was just like back in the day; the whole force of his personality seemed to beat against the younger man. It would be easier just to agree – it might even be advisable to agree, to see just how far Punk was willing or able to push the bullshit he was trying to sell. “Since it caused the child some bump or cut—“

Evan’s eyes went to his hands, crossed on his lap, the cuffs of his shirt pulled slightly up so he could see the watch Chris had lent him that morning. Chris would have laughed in Punk’s face by now, found some words to twist Punk inside out without even trying. He wasn’t even aware that he was going to speak until he did. 

“Not a bump or cut. As I said, a severe injury that would have led to unconsciousness or death. I can confirm, since you ask—“Not that Punk had but Evan didn’t feel like a ticking-off from the judge again. “That the statue was hidden after that injury, and that the degradation of DNA suggests the injury occurred within six months of the statue being tested.”

Punk looked stunned, taken aback that Evan had managed to take control of the conversation and Evan had to fight a smirk and the urge to mime marking an invisible scoreboard. That would teach Punk that Evan wasn’t to be manipulated or intimidated.

~::~

For several long seconds the moment seemed to hang, and just when Evan was beginning to worry that that damning blush was going to make itself known Hayman suddenly stood up, “No further questions, your honour.” Punk’s head snapped around to look at his legal mentor, as though about to protest, before nodding in what he seemed to think was a gracious and benevolent way before adding with a saccharine smile at Evan, “That will be all thank you, Evan, you may get down from the dock.”

The dock? What the hell? And who was he to be giving orders! He couldn’t tell him what to do anymore and expect him to just blindly follow! 

Actively biting his tongue to keep from snapping those bitter words at Punk and instead offered back an equally sweet smile (which he was pleased to see seemed to irk the other somewhat) before he then stepped down from the uncomfortable chair inside of the confines of the highly polished wooden boundaries of the lidless box he’d been all but sequestered in for--- had it really been forty-five minutes? Sure it had seemed like a long time, but at the same time it hadn’t seemed that long. Glancing towards the public galley as he headed towards the door which would lead him back towards the room where John and other professional witnesses were waiting, Evan hoped to catch Chris’ eye.

And the proud smile that was levelled back at him, suddenly made the pressure in his chest ease; apparently he hadn’t said anything that would mess anyone up too badly if Chris could still look like that at him. 

When the blonde man nodded his head just a fraction Evan dared to send a small smile back, his other hand automatically reaching for the watch he had borrowed, unaware that Punk at least was watching his every move carefully with the smallest of frowns tugging at his lips; it really seemed that he hadn’t been expecting Evan to do a little more than roll over and show his belly, but instead the smaller man had bitten back.

It was both unsettling and yet, made him feel oddly proud, interested even.

But he never went back where he’d already been, hence why he and AJ had had quite the messy break-up; he swore she was completely and utterly mentally unstable but unless people witnessed her instability for themselves no one ever brought into it. She had a way of making herself seem harmless and non-threatening when in reality she unnerved Punk more than any of the rapists, murders and big time bad guys that he had met since he began working under Paul Hayman.

More testimony was heard, a recess was taken to allow the judge to formulate his thoughts of matters, and then court was adjured for the day late afternoon. So late in fact that the sun had actually begun to set and a heavy orange-red shade of lingering daylight hung in the air.

“You still have to come even though they don’t want to talk to you yet?” Randy asked agitatedly as he and John exited the courthouse together; John was likely scheduled to receive his turn tomorrow, but with each second that dragged on, and with each conflicting expression that appeared on the jury members faces had Randy becoming more and more unsettled with everything. Open and shut the guy had done wrong so Randy didn’t understand why legal mumbo-jumbo may somehow provide a prevalent excuse for that.

Life was what he wanted but as long as the bastard got something that would be fine.

“Yeah,” John responded, suit jacket draped casually over his arm now he no longer had to keep himself spick-and-span just in case he was called before the judge and jury to give his evidence and his side of things. A concerned expression lit his face as he reached and laid his dominant left hand on Randy’s arm, Randy’s lips forming the smallest of smiles when he saw his ring nestled there on John’s finger as though he’d been born with it already there. Even though not all that much time had passed in the grand scheme of things Randy already couldn’t remember a time when John had been without the ring he now bore. “You don’t have to keep coming you know… I can have Chris report back what goes on if you don’t want to be there.”

“Like hell,” Randy responded immediately, a hand reaching and enveloping John’s as they headed back to the car, “I just,” he heaved a heavy sigh, “I hate the idea that that asshole could walk away scot-free. So what if she took them? He helped keep them, he kept it all a secret when he could have easily gone and got help for her instead…” for a moment Randy almost looked uncomfortable and then a familiar expression of determination crossed his face, “Love can only excuse so much.”

Squeezing his partner’s hand John sighed and then used his keyfob to unlock the car before sliding into the driver’s seat. For once Randy sat in the passenger’s seat without comment, though that could have been because he had gotten to drive on the way there.

“I just want it over.”

“I know.”

“I’m so nervous I’m going to say something and fuck everything up when it’s tenuous enough as it is.”

Reaching across the centre console Randy placed a hand across John’s knee, the gesture screaming intimacy, familiarity and comfort. Sometimes it was hard to think of things to say that didn’t sound phoned-in on without feeling, so Randy had long since adopted the approach then when he couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say he would be silent.

John never minded the silence, seemed to understand it, so that was OK wasn’t it? He wasn’t copping out, he was just attempting to make things easier for John.

“It’ll be over soon,” John nodded and started the car, though whether he was saying that to convince himself or Randy, Randy had no idea, and in truth he found that he couldn’t have wished for a speedier resolution no matter how hard he tried.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Last One She Saw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation with Punk and Heyman inspires AJ to bring her A-game to the trial, but during her cross-examination it is she who momentarily finds herself confronted with an unwelcome question.

“Can you pass me the chilli powder?”

“How is that not hot enough as it is?”

“It’s not hot enough!”

“I don’t want it hotter.”

“Cody, you are such a baby when it comes to chilli—”

“You wanna come over here and tell me I’m a baby?” Cody challenged, his hand still wrapped around the wooden spoon that he was using to stir the spicy chilli sauce into the mince-meat.

He and Ted had decided to make themselves useful and aid one another in the kitchen and make something hearty but uncomplicated for their friends to join them in having when they got back since neither man doubted that they would have had much to eat since the trial had begun even if they had managed to grab a snack during the oft mandatory recess.

“I do call you a baby,” Ted reminded, pausing in the process of putting rice onto the four plates waiting.

“Wha-!” Cody’s outrage died on his lips though when Ted suddenly enveloped his vision, bright blues just that slight shade darker, smokier, and suddenly all thoughts of dinner seemed to have vacated the premises of his mind to be replaced with thoughts of an equally spicy, but more bearable nature.

At least, that was what was happening until the front door slammed closed and they heard John calling, “Ted, Cody?”

“In the kitchen!” Ted called back with a lightly apologetic and promising smile at Cody as he pulled back from the younger man.

Fighting the urge to pout, and praying that the stirring in his loins he had felt moments before wouldn’t really come into play, Cody turned his attention back to the pan on the stove.

“Do I smell garlic bread?” Randy poked his head around the kitchen door and then grinned (though the teasing smirk didn’t quite meet his eyes the way it normally did, proving his heart wasn’t entirely in it) before then leaning back around the door and calling, “It’s OK John, they’re dressed!”

“Like we’d do anything in the kitchen!” Ted rolled his eyes but there was a slight blush lingering on his face.

“Why not?” Randy mused as he dropped himself into his usual chair at the four-seater dinner-table they now had, and tilted his head as he watched John moving to help even when he was shooed away by Ted who was now retrieving the fresh cheesy-garlic-bread from the over to divvy up as Cody ladled out equal amounts of the chilli mixture. Randy then continued his previous thought once he’d distracted himself from their dinner’s side-dish, “John and I have!”

“Randy!”

“What?” Randy demanded, though he was now starting to relax into his devilish smirk once more, easing up now they were at home and in familiar surroundings, “It’s perfectly natural!”

“We eat in here!” Cody protested.

“Oh come on,” Randy snorted and then levelled Ted with a knowing look as he set drinks onto waiting coasters and studiously avoided looking at anyone, “You’re telling me you’ve never thought of just bending one another over the table, or the sink, and just having your way with them?”

Sheepishly, John inputted, “We do make sure to clean up afterwards.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cody mumbled, face still red as he set down Randy and John’s plates of chilli, their garlic-bread perched on top, then fetching his and Ted’s. The crutches weren’t far away, leaning on the side, but again Cody had been trying to do his best to move around without relying on them too much; all he needed was to end up developing an inability to deal without them, though he made sure to use them whenever he thought that Ted was looking too closely at his movements.

Silence descended between them as they started to eat, the only sounds the occasional murmur of someone complimenting the food, or of cutlery scraping across ceramic.

Eventually though Ted asked the question that he and Cody were both thinking, “How was court today?”

“Harrowing and yet strangely dull at times too,” especially since both the prosecution and the defence seemed keen to have the bit-part players all cleared out of the way first. Sure, there had been the pictures and the facts but it was boring after a while to hear someone who claimed to have seem Melina and Morrison a few times when they had moved to such-and-such a neighbourhood and they had always kept to themselves and made no efforts to get to know anyone the way that most people would do. “Still, Evan managed to get one over on that Punk guy so that was pretty funny.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t get to see it,” John lamented almost wistfully.

“What happened?” Ted asked, mouth suspiciously full mere seconds before he spoke, though clear when he did; he seemed somewhat slovenly now and again but his table-manners were always impeccable.

“Should we be talking about this now?” Cody asked with only mild chiding in his tone; he too wanted to know, but he knew John was bringing too much work home with him thanks to the trial, and Randy had insisted on more than one occasion that when John came home his first priority was to ensure that he could rest and relax his mind so that he could be at home without any problems.

“Sorry,” was echoed around the table, one sheepish, one surprised and the other amused.

Merely nodding his head Cody resumed eating the just-bearably spicy food; they could talk later.

~::~

“It’s not going as smoothly as I’d hoped.”

“But still better right?”

AJ sighed and leaned her head against her newish boyfriend Dolph’s shoulder and nodded; Dolph was something of a local celebrity as a host for a sports-commentary show, and an active performer on state teams when he was needed. They made a generous income between them both and AJ supposed she was lucky she had found a man whose ego, though large, had never resented her success or taken anything away from his own for the same reason; she had been through far too many dates like that.

“Can’t talk about it much more huh?” Dolph’s lips twisted into a wry smile.

Reaching for her Bacardi and Coke, the cold glass feeling soothing and inviting after the headache the day had mostly been, AJ drained what was left and then smiled sweetly up at Dolph, “I’m sorry; I know I’m kind of dumping my work woes on you again. How was the taping today?”

Brushing several locks of dyed platinum blonde hair (Dolph’s dye job looked so bad that it had become some level of ‘good’, the man paying for the look that appeared either unfinished or in need of a top-up as his dark roots showed) from his bright eyes Dolph reached for his own drink, drained it, and then signalled the bar-keeper, Drew, for another two drinks of the same. “It went well apart from one of our contestants on the after-games almost broke their damned ankle by trying to be Rambo.”

AJ giggled at him, hand splaying over his muscular arm, before sneering instead as a shadow fell over them, noticeable even in the bar’s dim lighting.

“I didn’t realise they were opening this place up to the trash, Miss Lee?” Paul Hayman smiled in a faux-friendly manner.

Dolph’s arm clenched underneath her hand but AJ merely exerted a subtle pressure to keep him down; the last thing her case needed was to have some kind of mistrial levelled against them because the blonde had smashed in the old walrus’ face. She couldn’t remember who had first called Paul that before her but it had stuck in her head ever since, making it hard to address him properly in court.

“Well, letting in trash can’t be any worse than letting in scum like you,” she returned sweetly.

Paul’s flabby face went a blotchy pink colour, the shade darkening further still when Dolph sniggered without even bothering to try and hide it.

“Really AJ? Drinking alcohol when we have a court hearing tomorrow?” Punk cut in as Paul floundered.

A bored expression crossed her face, “Not all of us are Straight Edge.”

“What the hell is ‘straight edge?’ sounds like something I’d find in my tool shed.”

“You are a tool-shed,” Punk said warmly, as though he’d just paid Dolph a compliment as opposed to an insult, his eyes flashing just slightly and AJ found herself smirking even as she squeezed Dolph’s arm again to remind him not to be rash; it seemed as though he was still reeling over the fact that Evan had all but put him in his place earlier.

“It means he doesn’t drink or smoke.”

“You don’t have to drink or smoke to have fun,” Punk said dryly.

Dolph merely toasted him with his fresh drink and drained a good swallow, “That’s what you think.”

“No, you don’t need drinking or smoking to have fun,” AJ leant forward slightly, dark eyes meeting and holding Punk’s, the somewhat subdued hubbub of the bar seeming to fade into the background entirely in its insignificance, “Just some drugs and a cloth to abduct and accidentally kill some kids. Or maybe it’s just a shot-gun you need, maybe that’s it?”

Sparks of old grudges and professional pride seemed to blaze between them and even Dolph wisely read the mood enough to know when to keep his mouth shut for once.

“You don’t have a chance.”

“It isn’t over until the judge bangs the gavel.”

“You always were a stubborn fool. Still, good luck, even though you’re going to fail spectacularly.”

~::~

The altercation with Punk and Heyman actually served to galvanise AJ, give her something to focus on that wasn’t the confused look in Melina’s eyes as she died. There was no way that Punk was going to get one over her and no way she was going to let anything he thought be proved true. Whenever she felt herself starting to waver on the stand over the following few days she put the expressions of the two men firmly in her mind and felt her resolve strengthen again. in spite of that, she couldn’t say that the case was going especially well. She couldn’t have thought it when the case landed on her desk, but Morrison made for a sympathetic figure. A man who would do anything to make his wife happy, who just wanted to create their own family – there were people who lapped up that happy horseshit and AJ was worried that there were a couple of jurors who fell into that category. 

But she tried. She put forward that his silence and his complicity made him just as much to blame as Melina was and just because Melina was dead didn’t mean there was no blame left over for him. She wrought as much emotion from the children’s statements as she was able – they had hated Melina, feared her, but they had been afraid of him because they had no idea what he was capable of and because he refused to do anything to help them. He could shout and he could be cold and AJ did all that she could to emphasise this while Heyman went out of his way to show how he had little real contact with the children other than providing for them. 

She was very surprised when Morrison was called to his own defence, although less so when Heyman had Morrison say he had done everything he had done for the sake of his wife’s sanity. She listened with great interest as Morrison described an accident – Theresa had fallen over a carelessly placed skate and landed in such a way that the statue had punctured her temple. He lowered his head and spoke rather monotonously as he recounted it and AJ had a bright flash of knowledge about the man; you’re lying. But there was no way that she could prove it and challenging him on the stand might lead to her alienating the jury, especially if Heyman was on her case. She would have to cast that shadow of doubt some other way. 

She rose to ask her own questions, studying Morrison. He was a good looking man and in other circumstances she might not have turned him down. But his dark eyes were shadowed and there seemed no enthusiasm in him to gain his own freedom. 

“You said that Melina was protective almost to a fault,” she said as a starter. Those weren’t the words he had used of course but he had said that she didn’t like Theresa or any of the children doing anything at all that might cause them injury. 

Morrison shrugged and made some sound that was probably a yes. 

“And you said and it was backed up, that Melina was very house proud and never left anything out of place?”

Another noncommittal noise. 

“And yet you say that she bought Theresa skates, which were then left lying around? Skates that caused her death? In spite of the fact she had never allowed Theresa to so much as play with other children, let alone do something that could cause her some harm, no matter how minor?”

Morrison shrugged again and surprisingly gave something like an answer. “I think she was starting to let Theresa grow up a little. Do new things. And look how it turned out – no wonder the others were treated more carefully.”

AJ raised her eyebrows a little. She hadn’t expected the defence and that it had been given suggested to her that he wasn’t covering for Melina this time. Anything to do with her had simply been disregarded or met with indifference. The description made her feel that there was something more this time and she wondered if it had been something as simple as a slap that had caused the child to stumble. Not that there was evidence of that, she could only work with what she had and what she was given. 

“You said earlier you didn’t call an ambulance for your daughter because you thought she was dead.”

“I knew she was. And Melina was distraught.”

“So who’s idea was it to replace her like some poisoned puppy? Yours or hers?”

“Objection!” Heyman stood up, ready to argue the point.

“Sustained,” returned the judge. 

AJ nodded slightly. “I’ll rephrase. Whose idea was it to find another child for the family?”

“I don’t know. It came up in conversation.”

“Excuse me? The daughter you profess to have adored is lying dead in your living room and you were having a conversation? One in which it just came up that you should start taking other people’s children as replacement?”

“No!” Morrison buried his hands in his hair, dislodging much of it from the ponytail it was tied back in. “I had to calm her down – she was devastated. And telling the authorities that Theresa was dead would lead to real trouble. It wasn’t an official adoption and we’d never be allowed another child if the police knew, no matter how well cared for she was. There was nothing we could do for her and so I sat her down and we had a talk. She only ever wanted a family of her own and my daughter was dead – neither one of us were thinking straight. We decided to find a place where we could bury her, somewhere she’d be happy, and then we’d have a new family. Not that we’d forget Theresa—“

“Although you called the first of the girls you took by the same name?” AJ took off her glasses and stared at Morrison. “That sounds like you wanted to replace her?”

Morrison snorted. “Do you know what people call their kids these days? We were doing them a favour, giving them better names.”

“There are millions of names, I don’t think you had to give her the same name as your child—“

“It wasn’t like that!” Morrison sighed. “The name was Mel’s idea. And I didn’t think it was so bad. We couldn’t explain where she went!”

“She went to a box in your shed.” AJ gave a second for that to sink in with the jury and continued. “Wasn’t there a point in all this when you wanted to say enough? You could have stopped this before it started and yet you stood back and let Melina take those children at best. At worst, you were a cold-blooded accomplice, taking these children and subjecting them to a fear they had never known before, them and their parents. Didn’t you have the chance to stop this? But you opted for an easy life and in doing so, you fully deserve to be here.”

“I didn’t want to stop it,” said Morrison unexpectedly, taking the wind from AJ’s sails. “Melina knew there were children out there who needed her. She broke her heart over the plight of some of the children in the world. Out daughter was dead, gone and there was nothing we could do about it – we couldn’t even grieve properly because of how she came to be with us. We bought her from her drug-addict mother and although she was better off, that made us the bad guys. We might never find that again and so Melina found a child who needed us.”

“Who is now dead.”

“That wasn’t her fault! The kid just – she just died. Melina did nothing to her except give her a couple of pills in lemonade that weren’t enough to even really put her out! She had no way of knowing there’d be a bad reaction the way there was – and you don’t know how much that broke her. But she wasn’t the only one! Do you know there are hundreds of children out there living in foster care, or in broken or abusive homes? Mel obsessed over them. She wanted to save them all. We had our daughter again but then she said there was another child with some horrible story, and another, and another. Was she supposed to just choose only one or two and leave the others to go through that? Mel was just trying to save the world...”

Morrison slumped back in his seat, shaking his head. “She just wanted to help,” he mumbled. “Her and them. That’s all. She wasn’t being malicious…”

AJ put her glasses back on, looking at him in a way that was supposed to relay her severity. Instead Morrison suddenly jerked his head at up and stared at her, eyes wild. “You were with her. When she died, you were there. The last person she saw. Did she – did she suffer? Was she in any pain?”

AJ almost staggered backward under the question, bringing back memories she had never wanted to revisit. Heyman and Punk being smug assholes back in the bar left her mind and suddenly she was overcome with the memory of Melina bleeding, her own terror that the shooter would start up again, the screams. Crawling over the floor to get to the woman who seemed so hurt, her own breath coming out in sobs, shouts and running feet. The confused disbelief in Melina’s face as she mouthed something that AJ still couldn’t decipher before she succumbed to the trauma her body had suffered...

Somehow, somehow, AJ managed to keep a professional expression on her face. “She didn’t seem to even realise something had happened,” she said softly, not thinking about the jury or her case, but about the last moments of the woman’s life. 

Silence reined. 

AJ managed to get a hold of herself. “Uh... may I request a ten minute recess?”

“Granted,” said the judge immediately, raising a hand before either Heyman or Punk could object. She was well aware of what had happened in the last case, just as she was aware neither one of them had been there.

AJ mumbled some thanks and waited for the judge to leave before she left on shaky legs to get some fresh air. Once outside she leaned against a wall, taking some deep breaths. She knew she might well have screwed over the whole case by showing some empathy with the accused, but she didn’t much care. Like so many others, she just wanted it to be over. 

~::~

After another week of testimony the jury were finally sent away to begin their deliberation, and Randy was fairly certain that he wasn’t the only member of the public gallery that released a breath that felt as though he had been holding it for years as they headed back out of the doors. Rolling his shoulders he glanced towards Chris who had ended up sitting beside him and Chris returned a terse smile.

“What do we do now?” he mumbled.

“Huh?”

“Now there’s no testimony, what do we all do?”

For a moment it seemed as though Chris didn’t hear him but then he merely sighed and quirked a wan smile, “Well, what we do is hang around until they tell us they’re either ready or that we need to leave. Well, I guess that’s especially true of witnesses, and you know the media will hang on until grim death, but for the rest of us? If we wanna leave we can do…” Chris had no intention of going anywhere though as Evan had been forced back into that Special Witness side-room again and he wanted to be here to offer support for him. “Bet it was rough seeing John getting cross examined huh?”

A dark scowl marred Randy’s face; it had taken everything he had not to get up and lay out the balding bastard who had attempted to make it seem as though John hadn’t done a proper investigation, had tried to claim that John had merely focused in on Morrison and his wife as the only suspects when, in reality, they weren’t criminal at all; there were so many extenuating circumstances that the police fumbled with, wasn’t that right John?

It was only when Heyman tried to allude that John had been somehow responsible for Melina’s death that the judge put their foot down and hurried the defence along.

“It was, yeah…” he sighed; John had been a mess that night, worried he’d said the wrong things and somehow let the children down. They had just spent the night curled up together in bed, arms around one another and the occasional gentle kiss being exchanged, but that was it. “How’s Evan been?” he added on; he’d come to know the pair even better than before and he had a soft spot for Evan. But then, many people did.

“He seems a bit more relaxed now his testimony is over… he’s still tense though.”

“I think we all are,” Randy murmured, noticing a man with a deliberately (at least he hoped it was deliberately) bad bleach-blonde dye-job approached AJ, dropping a kiss to her cheek as she favoured him with a brief smile. His face seemed vaguely familiar but he wasn’t anyone that Randy felt was too noteworthy. A boyfriend? Despite her apparent instability AJ was considered popular with the opposite sex. She had had a thing for John once and initially it hadn’t appeared to be ending pretty, but then she had moved on and everything was smooth as silk again.

“Tell me about it.”

“Seriously though…” although he was addressing Chris, Randy couldn’t help but crane his neck back and forth to try and see whether John was being granted freedom from his temporary prison back there with the other SW’s. He laughed slightly to himself; it was as though he was waiting for a prisoner of war or something, “How long do you think we’ll be waiting?”

Scrubbing a hand over his face Chris sighed, “If these guys have any sense? Not long at all.”

~::~

Guilty of kidnaping and false imprisonment.

Guilty of second degree manslaughter.

Sentence of life in prison with parole after 25 years.

“Do you think that’s fair?”

“What’s fair doesn’t matter… considering he would have gotten twenty years for Theresa alone, I think we’ve gotten a pretty good result,” John exhaled as the judge stood, finished presiding, and then Morrison was led away in handcuffs. He didn’t seem particularly upset one way or another, but then, he seemed to act as though he no longer had any reason to keep living in Melina wasn’t there with him.

Punk and Heyman both looked as though they had swallowed particularly bitter pills and AJ was trying her hardest to look dignified in victory but even John could see the surprise playing around her features; life was probably considered steep in some cases, but with one proven death and another hanging in the balance, consideration had to be given to all of those children involved. Besides, Melina may be dead, and some may have thought that just, but there was still punishment to be meted for the sake of society and its conscience.

A quiet snort came from Chris on John’s other side, “Bet they appeal.”

“Of course they will,” Evan murmured softly, eyes narrowed just a fraction as he looked across at Punk who was staring at something on the desk before him as though hoping it would somehow provide him with an answer, “They won’t be able to let it go like this.”

“Still,” Randy frowned, “Parole won’t grant him much leeway will it?”

The three men who were embroiled in the nitty-gritty world of law enforcement exchanged looks for a moment before John then offered Randy a wan smile, “Hopefully not.”

Joining the queue of people bustling and fighting to exit the court-room, voices high either in jubilation or consternation (most likely in an attempt to be seen by the media) John reached for Randy’s hand without thinking as they walked. What? He had never been embarrassed by what he was, for want of a better term, and he wasn’t about to start now. Once he hit the front of the court-house though this plan went awry as an old woman came over to him with surprising speed and embraced him so tightly that John genuinely believed she’d break his ribs for a moment.

He recognised her as the grandmother of the little boy with the Daffy Duck glasses.

“Ma’am—”

“Thank you, detective,” she was teary-eyed but composed despite this, and John could just imagine the unbending will she was displaying not to let herself just crumble to pieces then and there, “Thank you. I can never thank you for what you’ve done for our family.”

Blushing despite himself John patted her gently on the back, oblivious to the fact that numerous news cameras that had been following the trial were watching them.

“I just did what any good man would have done; I had the best help from my colleagues—“Randy quirked a smile at how John was still so modest after everything, even though he wasn’t exactly wrong when he said he had had good help, “We’re just glad that the children are safe and this is all over with now.” It was probably some measure of justice at least that by the time Morrison may potentially be released he was going to be in his fifties, sixties, and the children were going to be in their twenties, possibly thirties in the one case; they would be adults, perhaps even with their own families…

They would have moved on.

Giving John’s middle another squeeze the woman finally allowed herself to be pulled away by an elderly gentleman who pumped John’s hand with a firm, respectful grip that told John that he’d been in some kind of military service back in the day.

They were bombarded by cameras (to which Randy muttered, “Fucking vultures,” under his breath upon noticing) before a camera was then thrust into their faces.

“Detective Cena! Detective Cena! Any words about the trial?”

Looking carefully neutral John placed an arm around Randy’s back, hand planted on the small of it firmly, and said gravely, “A statement will be issued shortly, until then I would only like to say that I’m glad this is over, for the sake of everyone involved.” On that note he started to lead Randy back towards their car, the mob following relentlessly until it became clear that John had no intention of responding further… and that Randy seemed to genuinely consider running them down with their car.

~::~

“Stop pacing, it’s bad for you.”

“But they said they’d be back by now…”

“It’s probably a circus out there Codes, they’ll be fighting to get out…” Ted reached a hand out and Cody obediently headed towards him and joined him on the settee, “They’ll be back soon and then we’ll know what’s going on.”

They hadn’t been able to convince themselves to turn on the TV, preferring instead to hear about the climax of the trial from the horse’s mouth… or two of the horses’ mouths anyway.

“Think it went alright?”

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Ted frowned softly; from what they had been told about the trial, more so from Randy than John due to confidentiality, or something along those lines, “But I don’t see how they could let someone like him just walk away.”

Justice wouldn’t allow a travesty like that. At least, not the justice of the legal system that Ted had grown to believe in, anyway.


	30. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Closure And A Man In A Veil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AJ finds herself having a downright bizarre conversation with Ted as the drama of the Morrison trial comes to its close. And then, finally, John and Randy get around to tying the knot.

When John and Randy got home, one look at their faces told Cody that the news was good. John seemed a thousand times more relaxed than he had been in a long time – maybe even more relaxed than Cody had ever seen him, since he’d always had the case hanging over his head for as long as Cody had known him. Randy grinned at them and Cody could feel the wave of relief washing over Ted. 

“No parole for twenty-five,” said John, not bothering to go through the formalities – he knew just what they were waiting to hear. If it had been him in the position Cody had found himself in, he would have wanted to be there to see the ending but after what had happened at Melina’s trial he fully understood why neither one had been there – and Randy had mentioned that Ted had partaken of one of his apparently one-sided conversations. He could empathise, even if it wasn’t in his nature to want to sit it out. Not that he was given the choice of course. He had to give evidence regardless. 

Cody let out a long breath. “Thank god for that. I know that he didn’t shoot me but he was right there in the house and he didn’t even blink. Didn’t even seem to bother him. He’s as crazy as she was. I’m just glad he’ll be behind bars from now on.”

“Amen to that,” said John, loosening his tie absently. “Hey, you two wanna come out with us, have a couple of drinks? We’ve got something worth celebrating after all.”

“Just don’t let me have too many,” replied Cody with a laugh, nodding toward the crutches. “Or else I’ll wanna dance and that might not be the best idea.”

Randy chuckled. “It might actually be worth spending all my money feeding you whisky just to see you trying to let loose on those things. Ted’d never forgive me though... Ted? You feel like celebrating?”

Cody turned to look at his lover with sudden concern – it wasn’t like Ted to be so quiet while they were all joking around and when he saw the look on Ted’s face he knew something was wrong. The man had gone slightly pale and there was a strange light in his eyes, almost an urgency. Cody had never seen that look before but he heard Randy muttering an “Uh-oh,” under his breath and it was safe to assume that sometime in the past, the tattooed man had. 

“I need to go to the courthouse,” said Ted distantly. 

“At least it’s not a thousand fucking miles away,” said Randy “I’ll drive you.”

John looked between the two in confusion. “But – we just came from there. It’s all over. Why do you need to go back?”

“Melina,” said Cody softly. 

Ted looked over at him and nodded. “It’s hard to explain – it’s like a call, in my head. It’s what brought me here in the first place. I was kinda hoping...” He trailed off but Cody didn’t need an explanation; Ted had been hoping that with the time that had passed since then without a call, it might have worn off somehow. “Anyway, it’s there and I need to see what it’s about.”

“Have you ever tried ignoring it?” asked John. “Not that I’m saying you should. I’m just curious.”

“I’ve tried a hundred times.” Ted shrugged helplessly. “It’s just not possible. I end up going crazy, I can’t think about anything else, I find myself trying to pack up and get out of town without even realising that I’m doing it. And like Randy said, it’s not even out of town. Maybe I can just do it and get it over with.”

“And then we can celebrate,” said Randy firmly. “Assuming the crazy bitch doesn’t have you chasing all over town or something. Let’s go talk to her.”

Ted gave him a puzzled look. “You don’t have to come with. You can’t even see her.”

Cody slipped his hand into Ted’s. “Doesn’t matter. We’re still here for you whether we can see her or not – and anyway, I’d rather you didn’t face the crazy bitch alone.”

Ted didn’t reply, but the way he tightened his hand around Cody’s said it all for him. 

~:~

AJ sat in the bar that the lawyers tended to frequent by virtue of it being close to the court, hidden from the main drag and relatively pricy – it meant they were a lot less likely to see anyone in there that they had either defended or prosecuted and once a case was done with, no lawyer really wanted to see the client socially right away, or the witnesses. It was inevitable that the case would be rehashed over and over, decisions questioned and grievances aired. It was the last thing that AJ wanted, especially with this case that had been such an emotional strain. 

There was no sign of either Punk or Heyman, thank god for small favours, particularly since Dolph had offered to take the car home and change before meeting her back there. AJ knew she should probably join him, go home herself and simply stay there but with the trial over she was still finding the thought of returning to normality a little unnerving. The case had taken her mind off Melina’s shooting, given her something else to focus on and without that she had found her mind going back to the woman, wondering how long she would have gotten or if that trial would have influenced this one. Remembering how Melina had fallen, bled out in her arms and how it had taken every ounce of courage that she had to walk into the court house the next time so that she could prosecute Morrison. She’d had the conviction to do so partly because it was something she’d been working on for months on end; now she was starting to wonder if she would be able to do so again or if she would somehow psyche herself out long before her next case entered the court. 

Getting shitfaced certainly wasn’t the answer but it was a start. She needed to blow off some steam, Dolph understood and was keeping an eye on her while she did. And maybe that was just what she needed to put a lid on the whole thing, say goodbye and move on. 

She was running her finger around the rim of her glass, trying not to think of the case and of course thinking about nothing else, when she sensed someone standing at the table. With an inner sigh she looked up and saw someone she vaguely recognised, a handsome young man with blonde hair and a somewhat apologetic smile. She knew who he was, she thought, but his name and how she knew him eluded her. He didn’t look like a lawyer but the casually expensive clothes suggested he wouldn’t struggle with the price of the drinks. 

“Miss Lee?” he said, not so much asking as trying to politely announce his presence. 

AJ suddenly knew why she knew him – DiBiase, her mind supplied. He’d had no part in the trial simply because the prosecution hadn’t really needed him for their case against Morrison and of course Melina’s trial had come to an abrupt end. But he was dating the man that had found their whereabouts, the one who had been shot, and had been there at the bitter end. And he had been there to watch Melina’s trial although he hadn’t been seen at Morrison’s. Not that AJ blamed him for that. There was a part of her that wished she’d been able to skip it as well, no matter how good the result had been in the end. 

“Mr DiBiase,” she said with a slight smile that acknowledged him but didn’t exactly radiate friendliness. She didn’t want company and not the kind of company that would want to talk over the case. She didn’t especially want thanks either but at least she could be gracious about that if it made him leave quicker. 

DiBiase looked over his shoulder and sat down, making AJ’s smile falter. She sure as hell didn’t want the guy hanging around for long and he looked like he had something to say. Suddenly she wished Dolph would hurry back. 

“I won’t keep you a moment,” said the man with a rather disarming smile. “I’m sure you’d rather not rehash things tonight.”

AJ raised her eyebrows. “Perceptive,” she commented. “So could it wait ‘til office hours? And how did you know I’d be here anyway?”

DiBiase looked uncomfortable and didn’t answer, but AJ thought she remembered something about John Cena renting out a room to an old friend of his fiancé’s. Cops knew just where the lawyers hung out after a case, although they didn’t often join them just because of the gap in pay. She made a mental note to throttle the man – things were awkward with her and the cop and it was just what she didn’t need, him sharing her habits with others. 

“I need to give you a message,” he said abruptly. “And I know it sounds weird, but just hear me out to the end and you’ll be able to think I’m as strange as you like once I’m outta here. But just – hear me out, okay?”

“Fine,” said AJ, wondering if it was some thanks from his boyfriend, although why that would be strange she didn’t know. Maybe he was asking for leniency on his boyfriend’s behalf and that would be strange, if not unheard of. But Rhodes would have no say in sentencing, hell, AJ had no say in it. All she did was line up the evidence. 

“Before she died, you told Melina that you were gonna get her help. She’d be okay, she just had to fight for long enough to get a paramedic to you.”

AJ stared at him, her heart suddenly racing, her core temperature seeming to drop. “You can’t know that. No one knows that! It was so loud and frantic and you were miles away!” 

“I was on the floor in front of the shooter,” replied DiBiase gravely and AJ suddenly remembered that had been true – they had hit the floor as soon as the gun had fired, or so she had heard later on, just as well for them or else they might have been hit by a stray bullet. “I didn’t even realise you were with her until the gunman had killed himself.”

AJ shook her head slowly, eyes wide, not knowing what to say. 

“I have a message,” DiBiase repeated, his voice quiet. “Melina just wanted you to know, she was glad she wasn’t alone when she died. She hated being alone. She was more confused than afraid, she didn’t really realise what had happened, but just not being alone made a big difference. She thought that you had something personal against her, some vendetta and she still isn’t entirely convinced otherwise, but she was so relieved that there was someone there with her that she’s given you the benefit of the doubt.” He smiled a little. “Of course, everyone else knew it wasn’t personal and you had a job to do, she was paranoid along with her other problems.”

“How do you know?” demanded AJ, her gaze boring into DiBiase. “You can’t know what she said and what I said and you can’t know what she felt like when she died. It’s not as if she’s still around to tell us!”

“Not anymore,” replied DiBiase enigmatically. “She’s not there now. But she was. She loved Morrison as well and she needed to be there for him – but it’s over now and she’s gone. You shouldn’t let her dictate your presence in the court house because she’s left it.”

AJ started. “The hell do you know what I’m thinking?”

“You’ve been sitting in the same place the whole trial. Emotions linger sometimes and sometimes people can pick them up.” He shrugged. “Not me though. I just needed to give you the message. I won’t take up any more of your time.”

He rose and AJ stood too, angry at his cryptic answers. “You haven’t told me anything! How do you know?”

DiBiase shrugged again and suddenly AJ recalled that his first name was Ted. “Melina told me. Before she left earlier on today, she told me.” 

There was so much wrong with that statement that it stunned AJ into temporary silence and by the time she had found her tongue, Ted was gone. Slowly she sat back in her seat, reaching automatically for her drink but not taking a sip. 

How could he have known anything that had happened between her and Melina?

Maybe she had been shouting, her rational mind told her. It had been loud in there, not just the gunshots but the people screaming and stampeding for the door, Vickie wailing somewhere nearby. But it didn’t make sense that he would have heard her in spite of the noise, even if she had been shouting. When there was someone shooting over his head he would have been more concerned with the potential threat, not with hearing her. Even if she had shouted at Melina to be heard, which she was almost sure she hadn’t, he would have been partially deafened and unlikely to be listening. 

So maybe it was a good guess. What the hell else was she going to say? Sorry babe, looks like you’re about to peg out. Make your peace with your maker. Not likely. But hearing her own words almost exactly unnerved her more than she cared to say. 

And there had been anomalies with some of the things John had told her, how he had come to identify and eventually capture the pair, how evidence had been found. At the time she had thought he had been incredibly lucky or very perceptive. Now she was wondering if that was all it was. He certainly hadn’t been having much luck with the case until the hunt was almost at an end – and she was wondering if that coincided with Ted coming into town. 

What the hell had he been talking about, lingering emotions?

Maybe she’d refrain from strangling John until she got some answers from him, but somehow she wasn’t at all sure that she would get the ones she wanted.   
Finally AJ took a single sip from her glass, thinking more over what Ted had said. She was an atheist but the thought of Melina watching the trial made her more uneasy than she wanted to admit to herself. But he’d said she wasn’t there. And why not just accept his message at face value? Going deeper into it might only unleash a can of worms that it wasn’t worth thinking over. But thinking that Melina appreciated her being there on some level, that in spite of all that the woman had done she was able to gain a little comfort as she had passed away, the thought was oddly comforting. As was the thought that she hadn’t realised what was happening to her in those final moments. 

It was still horrific, something she’d be trying to avoid remembering for the rest of her life, but AJ was rather surprised to find she did feel a little better about it all. 

Dolph showed up a little later on, faster than he might have usually done since he was slightly worried. AJ hadn’t been in a good place since the shooting and he had visions of turning up to the bar to find her sprawling or puking in the bathroom. But he found her with an almost full drink in front of her, a slightly distant look on her face but none of the depression or sadness that had been threatening when he left. 

“You okay babe?” he asked as he slid into the seat beside her, kissing her cheek. 

AJ looked a little surprised. “I think I am,” she said, almost cautiously, as if expecting to be proven wrong at any moment. “The trial’s over, done with, history. And Melina... well, she was probably just happy that she didn’t die alone in there.”

Dolph looked puzzled, as if he wanted to comment, but AJ quickly changed the subject and Dolph decided to go with it, just pleased that AJ was getting back to normal now all the craziness was over. 

~:~

Randy’s ideas for the wedding could have been summoned up in one word – Vegas – but both his family and John’s had been up in arms at the idea of their elopement and John was a little relieved that his fiancé had been pressured into something a little more elaborate. He was of the opinion that the wedding was less important than the marriage but it was nice to be able to show their friends and family the show of their love. But he and Randy both had balked at the idea of anything too over the top and in the end they had gone for a function room in a hotel followed by a meal, a bar and a band. 

As the day approached, John knew that Randy wasn’t so worried about anything going wrong with the day itself so much as he was about his best friend turning up. Ted might have a room in the house but he hadn’t occupied it for more than a month before - his hopes that his gift would simply leave after he met Cody had come to nothing and one day half way through dinner he had suddenly set down his cutlery and gloomily informed them all that he had to go to Nebraska, of all places. 

The gloom had lifted quite a bit when Cody announced there was no way Ted was going alone; he could work from his laptop and keep Ted company on his travels. And after that they were coming home, no arguments allowed. Privately John thought Cody’s determination had also helped Randy a great deal. Ted might get caught up in what he was doing and neglect to keep in touch but Cody had promised they would both be back before the wedding no matter what. And he had been as good as his word, the two arriving back less than two days before the wedding was to take place. 

Ted hadn’t said much about what had happened out there but Cody had updated them both while Ted showered and at least it all sounded a lot less harrowing than what they had already gone through. And police involvement had apparently been minimal, something that John found rather a relief because he didn’t know a single cop in Nebraska and hadn’t been sure how to get involved if they needed it... not that Ted had really needed it before of course. 

“I don’t think Ted even liked the deceased very much,” Cody confided to them. “But the family were uber-rich and at least he knew how to get their attention.”

The trip didn’t seem to have harmed their relationship. The pair spent the evening chatting away to their friends, as disgustingly in love as ever, touchy-feely and surprisingly relaxed. Cody was finally walking without the crutches, although he had a cane to lean on when he needed it. He joked that he wanted one that had a sword hidden within and John wouldn’t be at all surprised if he found one under the tree when Christmas came, courtesy of Ted. 

The night before the wedding John and Randy stayed in the hotel they were to be married in, in separate rooms through tradition rather than for any other reason – John found it hard to get a moments sleep that night. He missed Randy’s presence, his casual way of sprawling over John’s chest, his eternal horniness. He didn’t see how too much would change, they already lived together in a monogamous relationship and yet he was still as nervous as hell. All of their family and friends were in town and although he hadn’t been worried before, John was suddenly worried about everything that could go wrong. The registrar not showing, the rings going missing, the food poisoning all the guests, the sudden revocation of gay rights, an unforeseen hurricane ripping through the building... there were a million things that could go wrong. 

The only thing that didn’t occur to him was that Randy might not be there. 

But Randy did show up of course. When it was time for him to go into the room after his father had quelled his last minute nerves (everyone they knew was there and everyone would be watching him) he laid eyes on Randy and every worry he’d had vanished completely. He’d wondered if Randy might have gone for something casual but he had chosen a suit and was actually wearing it without having already loosened the more restrictive parts. Randy met his eyes and grinned and John lost all his nerves. He wanted to spend his life with this man and that was all that mattered. 

They got a round of applause when the service was completed and they exchanged rings and promises and kisses. John had never been especially concerned about showing his love even if he wasn’t into extreme public displays of affection and being able to kiss one another in front of everyone was exhilarating. 

Or maybe it was finally being married to the love of his life that was the exhilarating part. 

The reception starting with a swing and went on from there. Not that John worried himself too much about it except for to hope that everyone had a good time – he was busy with his new husband, who seemed to think that their reception was a great place to start murmuring kinky suggestions into John’s ear and suggesting they snuck out of the party for a while. John resisted; they were supposed to be the guests of honour after all. Still, given what Randy still did to him it was lucky they were able to sit behind a table so that no one could suspect exactly what those suggestions did to him. 

As the party went on people came up to talk to them, congratulate them and offer snippets of advice that ranged from bland and clichéd (“Don’t go to bed angry”) to downright bizarre (“If you’re hoping to watch TV in peace try putting laxatives in his drink about three hours before”; this advice from an elderly aunt of Randy’s who seemed less concerned about the homosexual aspect than she was about Randy becoming ‘the bitch’ as she put it). One of John’s brothers joined them a while later and took a seat, which at least stopped Randy from making suggestions about sneaking off to John, for a little while at least. 

John shared some snippets of information about the guests as his brother asked, many of them cops that he knew or the rather eclectic bunch that Randy seemed to pick up as he travelled through life. At one point the man indicated to Chris Jericho and Evan Bourne, stood over near the bar and asked, “Are they brothers or something?”

Randy burst out laughing and John asked, “Why would you think that? They don’t even look alike.”

“Well, they’re together the whole time and the older guy seems a little protective...”

Evan chose that moment to lean over and kiss Chris and while it was a relatively chaste affair, the lingering afterwards was anything but platonic, or brotherly. 

“I think that proves they’re not,” said John, amused. 

“I hope they’re not,” added Randy 

John’s brother cleared his throat a little and decided to ignore the misunderstanding, although John thought the naivety almost funny given that his brother had just married another man. “So, uh, you make a lot of money? I notice no one seems to have brought big gifts.”

“We’ve been living together long enough that we’ve got more or less everything already,” said John. 

“Although some people were a little too generous,” commented Randy, his gaze falling on Ted, who was talking to Cody out of the way of everyone else. Ted didn’t exactly go around flashing his money but everyone knew he was loaded and the size of the donation in their card from him and Cody had almost made him choke on his drink. 

“Oh, there’s that – what’s her name?” John’s brother gave John a rather imploring look. 

“Layla,” replied John with a grin. “She’s a literary agent.”

“Yeah... I think I might go and introduce myself, excuse me.” He got up and hurried over, already putting on his best smile. 

John chuckled. “That girl would eat him alive.”

“If she’ll give him the time of day.” Randy looked over at John and grinned wickedly. “Although there’s a certain family resemblance, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Was that a compliment? And on my wedding day?”

“Nothing but compliments from now on...” Randy’s grin grew wider. “As long as you don’t let yourself go. I hear that’s what happens when you marry.”

“Hey!” John gave Randy a playful shove that was immediately returned and the two laughed a little, the kind of laughter that indicated to anyone who might have cared to listen that it was something between the two of them and them alone; others might understand but they would never be a part of it. 

Randy looked around again and found Ted and Cody once more, watching them a moment. He had expected that Ted would return home in the same way that he always did when he’d been working on something, tense, withdrawn, rather spacy. Instead he was more relaxed than Randy had maybe ever seen him – and it occurred to him that it had been a long time since Ted had acted in that way, even before he had gone away again he had lost that air of separateness that had always kept people away. Ted had changed, for the better in Randy’s opinion, and Cody had a lot to do with that. 

John caught the direction of his gaze. “You think the kids’ll behave themselves while we’re staying in this hotel tonight?”

“I hope not,” said Randy as Cody leaned forward to whisper in Ted’s ear and Ted laughed, looking like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Those two are gonna be next.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

John raised his eyebrows, looking at Randy suspiciously. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Randy returned his gaze with an innocent expression that John wasn’t buying for a moment, but when he replied it was only peripherally about the other couple. “I was gonna save this for the speeches, but you’ve got a couple weeks leave and Ted’s dad offered us the use of the family holiday apartment in Hawaii...”

John’s face lit up. “Honeymoon?”

“Why not? We’ll grab a couple of bags sometime tomorrow, take a flight out there.”

John wrapped his arms around Randy’s neck. “Love you.”

“Love you too... Mr Orton.”

“Hey!” John chuckled a little. “I don’t recall saying that I was gonna use that as anything but a middle name!”

“Sounds good though—“

Randy lost his train of thought as his own brother ran up behind him, dropping a veil on his head and laughing wickedly before heading off again. Randy frowned slightly and stood, not bothering to remove the item. “I’m gonna kick his ass—“

“No black eyes on the photos!” called John as Randy took off after his little brother, not quite running but certainly stalking him. The younger man gave a yell of exaggerated fear and made as if to hide behind a laughing Ted. John leaned back to watch the action, wondering if Randy realised that Cody was getting pictures of his lover – his husband – in the veil. It would no doubt be forwarded to Randy later on that night with some comment designed to irritate him. Not that they ever really lost their tempers with the kids of course.   
John leaned back against his seat, smiling as Randy managed to lay a hand on his brothers suit and the other tried to escape further around Ted. Maybe it wasn’t what most people would call perfect but it was perfect for him perfect. And he couldn’t be happier.


End file.
